CheckMate
by 00Tyler00
Summary: Post Freak Nation. Pre Freedom.
1. Chapter 1

_**Alright gang, here's the next and newest addition** in the Tyler world of Dark Angel. **I will do my best** with this story **to bridge the gap between Freak Nation and the McDowell books,** but it's **mainly centered around the coming together of Max and Alec**. _**_Enjoy and review as always! _**

**_-- Tyler_**

**Post- Freak Nation**

**Pre- Freedom**

**Disclaimer: **

**Dark Angel and all its characters are the property of James Cameron.**

_One month. _

Max sat atop her treasured haven – Seattle's derelict space needle – knees hugged to her chest and the city's lights glaring at her as though betrayed by the recent turn of events.

It had been one month since the incident at Jam Pony. One month since she and her fellow transgenics had taken a stand against the fallacy that their past was to doom their future.

It had been a month of harrowing near-misses with the relentless throngs of mobsters flocking from across the country, eager to add to the vigilante packdogs chomping at the bit to lay siege on Terminal City – and its residents.

And, though surrounded by the growing number of her transgenic brethren-in-arms who worked as tirelessly as she did, it had been loneliest month of Max's life.

Sure, it wasn't as though she had been confined to TC's walls for the entirety of the four weeks – not with all the conferences and negotiation meetings she'd been attending. And Max had even managed a clandestine visit to her apartment to pack her belongings – what little she owned, at any rate.

But the truth was; Max missed her old life terribly. She missed Original Cindy and Sketchy and heck, she even missed Normal. She missed showing up late for work and leaving early for Crash. She missed the cheap beer and the squeaking bikes and the packages without a ZIP code on them.

Max missed Logan.

Sure, they talked online – but a video conference just wasn't the same as a good old face-to-face conversation. Of course, she wondered if she shouldn't be thankful for that. After all, the separation only solidified the fact that things were well and truly over between her and Logan.

Max suddenly felt a grating buzz against her hip and rolled her eyes as she fingered the device clipped to her belt – the only constant in her life…

Her stupid fucking pager.

The number was unmistakable – Terminal City Central headquarters. It had become the primary caller ID on her pager after four weeks of warring for first place with Logan's landline and Alec's cell phone.

Max sighed heavily as she stood up and turned to head back down to where her bike was waiting in the shadow of the space needle. As usual, she'd forgotten to take the cell phone Mole had scored her a few weeks back (after one too many frustrated efforts on the lizard nomalie's part to hound Max down).

Max sometimes _intentionally_ forgot the stupid thing. She hated the way Mole attempted to perpetuate further animosity in the current conflict by feeding Max continuous newsreels about every tiny fragment of hostility from the Ordinaries circle.

It was as though Mole was under the impression that Max _hadn't_ sat through hours of lecturing on subliminal coercion back in her Manticore days.

_Whatever he wants, it can damn well wait the four hours it's gonna take for the sun to show its face on the horizon. _Max thought determinedly as she swung her legs over the leather seat of her Ninja and flipped the key in the ignition. _I've got other stuff to work on. _

_

* * *

  
_

"_There_ you are!"

Max felt her mouth tighten and resisted the urge to snap viciously at the scaled transgenic who had taken up vigilante duty directly beside her token parking space.

"Miss me, Mole?" She responded noncommittally as she killed the engine on her bike and slid off it without sparing the nomalie a glance.

"You need to start learnin' to leave your phone on." Mole drawled reprimandingly, keeping step with Max as she strode up a run-down set of steps which opened onto the ground floor of TC Central (a whirlwind of perpetual activity – even at three AM).

"Was it turned off? I hadn't noticed." Max nodded at Dix as he passed by her with a stack of something she just really didn't want to ask about right then.

"Oh really? Might be cuz it's been sittin' on the _counter_ here for the last hour 'n a half!" Mole snapped as he extended the offending cell phone in her direction.

Max took it dutifully and stuffed it in the pocket of her jacket, keeping her eyes trained on the suspicious number of people crowded around the computer screens atop the second floor and off Mole's disapproving glare as he continued.

"Max, you can't just go incommunicado whenever you get the freakin' urge. We got a lot goin' here, in case…"

"In case, what, Mole?" Max finally turned to smile laboriously in his direction, "In case you haven't been rubbing my nose in it 24-7? I kinda got the memo." Her eyes narrowed into slits as her smile faded and she shoved past him, "What's going on?"

The question was directed at Luke, Joshua and Tanker (an X5 male who had crossed oceans and more then just a few continents to stand beside his fellow transgenics holed up in Terminal City…well, chiefly Alec, who had apparently been his mission partner on more then one occasion and had evidently left an impression even bigger then his ego).

"Max, 'bout time! We've been tryin' to get ahold of you for the last hour and a half!" Luke grumbled, and Max felt a sudden compulsion for strangulation creeping up inside of her.

"I was busy."

"You were _AWOL_." Tank reminded her acidly as he steered her towards the computer screen and shoved Joshua aside in the process.

"What's got _your_ panties in a knot?" Max glared at the hands clamping her jacket's shoulders before her attention was drawn to the surveillance footage before her.

She squinted and leant over Luke's shoulder at the feed from TC's backdoor cameras. The grubby, multi-layered metal fencing (which had since been fortified by extra barricading and a great deal of electric wiring) were smarting with ricocheting bullets, sending a smatter of sparks raining in every direction.

"What the hell are they thinking?" Max tone would have sounded bored if it wasn't dripping with irritation. She pushed off from the desk, "I can't believe you guys are actually tripping over this. It's just a rage blackout – it'll blow over."

"No it won't." Tank stated forcefully, and Max raised an eyebrow at him cynically, "Not until we get'em inside."

"Get who inside?" Max queried, completely lost, and her fellow X5 sidestepped her to drag another image onto the screen.

Max titled her head to make out the two small figures huddled behind a pile of burnt wood and rubble – the only thing (besides a good few meters) between them and the crowd of vigilantes lambasting their hideaway with gunfire.

"Transgenics?" She turned to gaze at Tanker, who nodded grimly.

"Kids, to boot. X6's, by the look of'em. We didn't know they were trying for entry till the gunshots started goin' off."

"And now they're stuck." Max sighed and glanced down at Luke, "What's the plan then?"

The nomalie flashed a nervous smile at his screen, "Well from what we can make out, there's about six Ordinaries out there, all totting ammo."

"Yeah plus a lotta bad attitude." Max commented dryly as the angry vigilantes began adding bottles and rocks to the mix, "Someone needs to tell these people they've got way too much time on their hands."

"Great idea, Max." Tank's lips pressed into an annoyed smile as he raised his eyebrows at the screen, "Hey why don't you just march on out there and give'em all a stirring speech? That is what you do _best_, apparently."

She returned the expression with one of her own, "No, what I do _best_ is kick smart-asses like you and Alec halfway to Venus and back."

"Men are from _Mars_, Max." Tank stated knowingly, and she shrugged.

"_Men_ are from Mars. You 'n _Alec_ are from…"

"Guys this is _totally_ irrelevant!" Luke snapped in complete frustration as he threw his headset onto the desk in front of him with a clatter, "How exactly are we gonna get these kids outta the line of fire before…"

"What the hell?" Max's exclamation alerted Tanker and Joshua's attention to the computer screen as a loud roaring crackled through the speakers.

"Switch cameras, _quickly_!" Tank nudged Luke, and the transgenic's fingers flew to comply as the feed changed to view the assaulting mobster crowd.

The glaring light of a motorbike accompanied the intimidating growl of its engine as it revved to maximum speed and charged the rear of the vigilantes. Its driver pumped the bike at a slant ('pulling a Max' as it had now officially been dubbed amongst the transgenic hierarchy), taking out three of the thugs on the spot before it spun its wheels and knocked a fourth to the ground.

"Who is it?" Joshua prodded Max, and she shook her head as the remaining two Ordinaries turned their attack moments too late to avoid the boot and elbow they simultaneously received.

"I got nothin'. Wait." Max leant forward and rested her hand on the top of the monitor as the mystery figure stopped moving at their ridiculous pace long enough to skid their bike to a halt in front of the X6's makeshift trench.

"Come on, get on!"

Max squinted at the familiar voice yelling through the static in the speakers before her shoulders slipped slightly, "Typical."

"Hey is that Alec?" A broad smile spread across Luke's face as he watched the transgenic kids hastily climb aboard the seat of Alec's bike before he swung it around the bend.

"Who else would be _stupid_ enough to charge headlong into a crowd full of armed vigilantes riding a _Triumph_ of all the piss-poor bike brands out there?" Max straightened with a roll of her eyes, ignoring the smirk Tank flashed her before he yelled for the side gates to be opened.

"Man, you really got it in for the guy, huh?"

Max scrunched her face up at the smug remark from Tank as she turned to head down the steps, "Whatever feeds your drama-meter."

She'd barely reached the bottom when Alec's bike pulled into the center, wheels spinning and exhaust pipe spitting in protest from the brakes as they hauled the bike to a halt.

Max would've cried _abuse_ if anybody had so much as _attempted_ to pull a stunt like that with _her_ baby.

"'Kay, off you get, c'mon." Alec's fingers still clenched the handles of his bike as he twisted to address the youngsters huddled on the seat behind him. They glanced hesitantly at the crowd gathered to size them up, and he rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, they don't bite."

"Where have you been?" Max stalked to the front of the throng with a contemptuous look for the X5, who raised his eyebrows at the little boy behind him conspiratorially.

"Uh, well that one does."

"You've been gone for _three_ days. Mind tellin' us what went down with the arms run you were supposed to be sorting out?" Max ignored the jab as she crossed her arms and Alec hopped off his bike with a sly grin.

"Aw Maxie, you weren't worried 'bout me, were you?"

"Finally!" Mole's angry snarl wiped the cocky smirk off Alec's face (and painted it on Max's) as the nomalie stormed to stand beside her, "_Please_ tell me you got me my grenades!"

"Relax, man, it's all in the pipeline." Alec reassured him benignly as he patted his shoulder bag and then raised his eyebrows at Max, "Whoa."

She returned the gesture with a great deal more cool, "What?"

"Nothin', just…" He scratched the back of his neck as he pocketed his keys and appraised her from the corner of his eyes, "When was the last time you got some sleep?"

Max narrowed her eyes at him, "You got somethin' to say, Alec, why don't you just spit it out?"

"You look like crap." He smiled and patted her shoulder as he brushed past her, "Delivery tomorrow night, people. Back gate run, 3 AM – we'll get it in three shots."

"How'd that take you _three_ days to coordinate?" Mole snapped as the X5 threw himself into a random chair and tossed his shoulder bag onto the table.

"What, you think I was havin' a vacation or something?" Alec laughed at the insinuation before nodding at the surveillance screens, "Yep, they're gonna feel _that_ one in the morning."

"Alec, _seriously_," Max rested her hands on the stair railing and threw him a frustrated look (likely because she assumed the word 'seriously' didn't exist in his vocabulary), "Where have you been? You can't just take off and expect…"

"Take off? Max." Alec's exaggerated expression of disapproval caused her to roll her eyes, "You really are strung-out, aren't ya – hey don't why you take the rest of the night off and catch some shut-eye." He flashed her an irritating wink, "Couldn't hurt."

"You know what _could_?" Max stepped forward only to be yelled at by Mole, who was standing aways off impatiently bellowing for her attention.

"You got Logan on line 4! Says it's urgent."

"Be there in a sec." Max called over her shoulder and then noted the sudden sobriety which had overtaken Alec's features, "What's with you?"

"Nothin'. Say hi to Logan for me." He clapped a hand on her arm before heading out of a side door, "Hey Josh, Dix, drinks on me in an hour."

Max sighed and allowed herself a fleeting moment of brooding as she hiked the steps to the computers where Logan's digital image awaited her. Things had been increasingly awkward between her and the cyberhero since the invention of her and Alec's relationship. The floating tag cloud of uncomfortable subjects between Max and her fellow X5 had also swelled by several topics due to the fact that Logan had let slip at a press release that the two were an item.

It had become an added strain on Max and Alec's already overloaded shoulders to keep the relationship up for appearances' sake. The media had of course gobbled up the concept of an Alpha couple spearheading the transgenic stand of independence – creating an inferno of tabloid slurs now featuring not only Max but also Alec as the new threat terrorizing the nation.

Max sucked at her cheeks briefly as she threw herself into the hard-backed chair and smiled warmly at her long-time friend. Logan looked about as exhausted as she was feeling right about then – his hair was growing out and creeping in loose strands over the rims of his glasses.

"Hey, stranger."

"How you doing?" Max couldn't help the concern which overrode her voice as she rested her arms on the desk in front of her and fiddled with a fraying edge of her biker glove.

"Alright, I guess – considering the FBI are hounding me at all hours of the day and night." Logan nodded at her, "What about you?"

Max shrugged with a wan smile, "We're hangin' in."

Logan blinked heavily, "I meant how are _you_? You don't look too hot."

"Hey," Max admonished with a forced smirk in his direction, "Gimme a little black dress and watch me go."

He wasn't buying it – that much was obvious. Nevertheless, much to Max's relief, Logan didn't press the subject further. Instead he glanced down at one of the papers cluttering his desk and raised his eyebrows.

"So what's going on?" Max queried, clearing the tense silence pervading in the air and shifting in her seat as Logan's eyes returned to the screen.

"Well, seems like the Secretary of Defense has got it in for you guys. Friend of mine who works down at the White House said he's in secret meetings to have Terminal City sectioned off as a conflict zone, wants to bring in a bunch of troops and storm the place."

"So much for their _negotiations_." Max rolled her eyes and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "So what's the plan? Middle-of-the-night siege, barrage of air-strikes, what?"

"I don't have that intel for you yet." Logan sounded apologetic as he rifled through the catastrophe that was his intray, "Soon as I can, I'm gonna get it though. In the meantime, lay low and stock up – that's the best advice I can give you right about now."

Max's lips tugged upwards briefly, "S'what we do."

The silence again. That rigid, unyielding tension thick enough to cut with a bread-slicer.

And then the inevitable question which always shattered it.

"How's Alec?"

"Fine, he's uh..." Max inhaled deeply and then blew out her breath before raising an eyebrow, "off wreaking havoc somewhere, I dunno. Anyway I'll tell him…."

"Well tell him I said hi."

The sentences were spoken at the same time, prompting both Max and Logan to squirm uncomfortably.

"Okay, well – I'll see you when I see you." Max finally offered, and he nodded in response.

"Sure."

Max glanced at the desk in front of her awkwardly for a moment before she looked back up at Logan.

"Bye."

"Bye."

The call terminated. The screen went dead. Max wasn't sure whether that was the result of a malfunction or whether she should take it as a sign. Max didn't really buy into _signs_, though, so she pushed away from the desk and told Luke that he should really take a look at his computer.

* * *

The sun's first rays peaked over the bleak horizon skirting Terminal City, gleaming off the jagged tiers of derelict buildings and the hostile barbed wiring.

The view from Max's makeshift apartment wasn't exactly Hallmark material – but it beat prison bars and White's ugly mug hands-down.

"Mornin'."

Max jumped as she rounded the corner leading into the front room and caught sight of Alec standing behind the counter of her kitchen.

"Coffee?" He raised his eyebrows at the boiling pot of water on the stove, and Max struggled to remain calm (and to wake up) as she huddled tighter into her bathrobe and walked towards the open circuit panel on her wall.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah Mole's on the way to give you the cussing out of a century." Alec responded nonchalantly as he filled two large mugs with steaming water, "Thought I'd swing by and give you a little heads-up, you know in case you were uh…" He glanced up at her briefly and waved a teaspoon, "walking around in your panties or something."

She gave him a blank stare.

He shrugged as his eyes returned to the coffee, "I dunno, I hear chicks do that. Anyway…"

"God, Mole's stance on privacy or lack thereof is _really_ starting to spread around here." Max growled as she attempted to re-wire the heating system into life. A sudden spark jumped out at her, and Max yanked her hand away reflexively before rubbing at a burnt fingertip, "Damn it!"

"Yeah sorry 'bout that." Alec cringed briefly at the wall panel, "Got some techies workin' the circuiting in this joint. Should be up and running soon enough once the generator guy comes through."

"Yeah well," Max opened a cupboard and handed Alec a cardboard box full of sugar just as he turned around to begin rummaging, "all I want is to be able to turn my freaking light on at night without havin' to get electrocuted every time I touch the switch."

He grunted in acknowledgement of her plight before he paused and sniffed briefly at the air, "Smell somethin' funny?"

Max rolled her eyes as she snatched her coffee mug from the counter, "Nope."

"Huh." Alec lifted his head and glanced around the apartment, "Smells like…damp."

"It's probably just your upper lip." Max responded tartly as she took a large gulp of her coffee and moved to sit on the faded sofa in the corner of the room, pausing by the window as she did so, "Oh my god."

"What?" Alec queried as he walked quickly around the counter to join her.

Both X5s stared in disbelief at the gangly, shaggy-haired male who was ambling cautiously towards the apartment building, hands tucked into his pockets and trepidation plastered to his features.

Alec's eyes narrowed incredulously, "Is that _Sketchy_?"

"What is he thinking?" Max was already heading for the door, mug of coffee forgotten on the counter, Alec on her heels.

"Well, knowing the man as I do, nothing that doesn't spell trouble." Alec offered with complete bewilderment in his voice that matched the expression on Max's face as the latter pulled open the front door…and came face-to-face with Mole.

"Hey Max." He drawled between the grit of his teeth around yet another cigar.

She glared virulently at the nomalie before shoving past him, much to his indignation.

"We gotta talk!"

"Yeah well save it for a time I don't feel like smashing your face in." Max retorted briskly as she strode hurriedly down the staircase, and Mole turned to Alec, exasperation etched across his face.

"What did you do now?"

Alec seemed greatly amused at the insinuation and smirked smugly as he folded his arms across his chest, "Oh this has nothing to do with me, Molie-boy."

"For once." Mole grunted, and Alec bobbed his eyebrows before side-stepping the nomalie and jogging down the steps, "Hey!"

Max reached the trashed-out lobby of the apartment just as Sketchy appeared through the main entrance.

"Hey Max!"

"Hey yourself, what the hell are you doing here?" Max demanded with enough bite to her tone to wipe off the grin which had briefly appeared on the bike messenger's face. Fortunately for Sketchy, his hide was salvaged by Alec's presence behind Max at that precise moment – although the look on the X5's face was no less reassuring.

"Sketch man, you know the deal with the biohazards, not to mention all the freaking guns trained on this joint." Alec's lecture was short-lived as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his sweater and narrowed his eyebrows with a judicious pout, "What're you doin' here?"

"Look you guys, I know I'm not supposed to prowl around, but uh…" Sketchy suddenly swallowed whatever words he had been about to emit at the sight of Mole at the foot of the staircase. "Uh you know…maybe we should do this another time."

"What was so damn important that you couldn't just pick up a phone and call us?" Max had no intention of letting this one fly, and her eyes widened with the promise of ill-will as she took a step closer to the lanky Jam Pony employee.

"I tried! Your phone was switched off." Sketchy protested, and Max's eye roll was in sync with the vindicated snort that left Mole' slips at the statement, "And dude, I dunno _where_ you been," Sketch nodded at Alec, "But apparently your number no longer exists."

"Yeah, little safety precaution thing I have when I'm arms dealing – I get like that sometimes." Alec's acidic smile had Sketchy's eyes narrowing.

"Arms dealing? You…" He glanced at Max and then back at Alec who was shrugging nonchalantly, "You guys gotta do something. Normal got a visit from some suits last night – apparently they're threatening to shut Jam Pony down and throw everyone in the can until he talks."

"Talks about what? He already told the cops everything that happened." Max furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah well they're not satisfied. Max, these guys want smear, they want angst, they want…" Sketchy sighed for a moment before continuing, "They say they want official statements from the staff who were holed up durin' the hostage situation on the abuse we suffered at the hands of our transgenic kidnappers."

Alec's tongue flicked across his lips and then a disbelieving grin crept up one side of his mouth, "That's the media for you. Never satisfied with the facts – all they want is fiction, it sells better."

"And in this case, it adds credence to the digs at our humanity." Max fingered the collar of her bathrobe as she glanced down at the floor, "God this is just typical. All their talk about a peaceful and diplomatic resolving process and this is the crap they pull behind our backs."

"You're surprised?" Alec seemed taken aback by the concept, and Max rubbed her neck as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"No, just pissed off. I mean, don't they get that we're not going anywhere?"

"You may not be, but uh…" Sketchy raised his eyebrows, "me 'n the rest of the gang are if you guys don't grab this one by the balls ASAP."

Alec nodded and his gaze switched to Max for some teller regarding her thoughts on the subject.

"Max, any bright ideas?"

Her face was a tapestry of emotions, with determination being the predominant thread as she remained silent for a minute, then glanced back at Alec.

"I dunno. What're you thinking?"

The question caught him off guard. She had never solicited his opinion so directly on any matter of importance before. Not with that tone riding her voice at any rate – the one that said 'I have no freaking clue'.

Alec pursed his lips for a minute as he considered his answer. "I'm thinking Sketch should hit the road before he keels over or gets himself shot."

"Yeah well that's a no-brainer." Sketchy agreed, his eyes falling to the phone tucked into his shoulder bag's front pocket as it began to throb, "It's Normal. He's pissed, I'm totally AWOL right now."

"Yeah, just get going, man." Alec clapped a hand on his shoulder, "We got your back, alright?"

"Sure, just…thought you guys should know." Sketch nodded at his ex-colleagues, "Mean, just in case there was anythin' you could do. Some of the guys were thinkin' of talking but most of'em are sticking with you on this one."

"Tell'em thanks." Max forced a glimmer of a smile, "And…" She shrugged, "Tell Cindy we'll think o' something."

"Right." Sketch clapped his hands together with a swing as he backed away, "Cool. So uh, I'll see y'all later, huh?" He cast a nervou8s glance at Mole's imposing form before turning to leave.

"Hey you need a hand clearing the area, man?" Alec called after him, and he pause din his tracks, "It's not rocket science gettin' past the watch dogs if you're transgenic, but…"

"Nah I got it." Sketch grinned broadly as he waved a folded slip of paper at them, "Sewers, man. Got a map and everything."

Max broke into a broad smile at the statement and waved a hand at Sketchy, "Get going."

"I'm gone, I'm gone!" He held up both hands defensively before ambling through the exit door and out of sight.

"_Please_ tell me you're not thinkin' of making this one our problem." Mole's curt dialogue had Max and Alec both turning to face him at the foot of the staircase.

"It already _is_ our problem." Max responded quietly, her face set with the iron of her will.

"No, our _problem_ is keepin' the world at bay for the amount o' time it takes us to stock up on ammo and launch an attack!" The lizard informed her coolly as he shouldered his rifle and unscrewed the cap on his whiskey flask.

"Where exactly did you come up with _that_ one again?' Alec queried in genuine bewilderment after the silence that had followed.

Max rolled her eyes as she brushed past Mole and began trudging up the stairs, "Nobody's attacking anybody – not if we can help it."

"We _can't_." Mole replied brusquely as he placed a hand on her arm and halted her in her tracks. She turned around to face him stonily as he rested an arm on the railing, blocking her path and leaning forward.

"This is a _war_, Max. Has been for a long time, only now it's out in the open, and _we_ don't have to hide anymore. Isn't that what you said when all this started, that we wouldn't have to run?"

"We are _not_ running." Max's eyes shot daggers which glanced off the metal barricade of Mole's own.

"Not yet." He snapped, "Just hiding. That's phase one of running with you, isn't it?"

"Hey guys, let's take a second to chill, okay?" Alec's remonstrance interrupted what could have escalated into a physical conflict as he hiked the step beside Mole and raised an eyebrow at the nomalie, "Cool it."

Mole sneered but released his grip on the rail at his friend's behest, eyes trained coldly on Max as she returned the challenging glare.

"Look we can talk about this later, okay?" Alec continued, directing his words at the pair of transgenics with a calm raise of his eyebrows as he tapped Max's back, "Why don't you go on upstairs and get dressed? We can hash this out at Central."

Max seemed eager to beat the scene and headed up the stairs with a final scowl in Mole's direction.

"Might wanna put on some common sense along with those clothes there, Maxie!" The nomalie called after her, and fortunately for him (because Max was running on a _very_ short fuse just then), she ignored the jibe as she hiked the stairs around the corner and disappeared from sight.

Alec's eyes lidded slightly as Mole turned to shake his head at the man, "Quit winding her up, Mole."

"Ain't my fault Missy's livin' in a dream world." The nomalie retorted icily, prompting something akin to a glare from Alec as he widened his eyes unapologetically, "While we're all dealin' with the fall-out here, Max's good intentions are pavin' the road to all kinds o' hell…"

"Just give it a rest, would ya?" Alec snapped so suddenly that Mole actually shut his trap for more then the moment it took the X5 to finish his statement, "Max is runnin' on empty right now and if you keep this up with her, she's gonna break."

"She already has." Mole informed him tersely, "You 'n the rest o' the gang are going on business as usual pretending everything's fine, but the truth is Max just ain't cut out for this kinda shit."

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't." Alec shrugged, "Tell you two things for sure though; one – Max is the only transgenic we've got in the barracks with ten years experience in surviving outside Manticore, which has gotta count for something."

"And two?" Mole crossed his arms.

"If you don't back off from her?" Alec leant forward and lowered his voice as his face darkened momentarily, "You and me are gonna have a problem."

Mole scoffed, "Well I'll be. Who dubbed _you_ Lord Protector in the land?"

"Doesn't matter, just lay off of Max." Was Alec's indifferent response as he sniffed before ambling down the stairs.

Mole digested the less-then-veiled threat from his otherwise amiable compadre and shook his head in wonder.

"Women," He sucked at his cigar, "Damn bitches ruin every good thing in this world."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Sorry this one took so long, gang. The muse decided to sputter **from the faucet **but I was diligent I promise :D - and here's the fragmented result. Review for me loves - **oh and check out **the banner for CheckMate** as well as** the new header for my blog **(both of which I'm rather proud).You can find them at my DA fic blog (the URL is on my profile). Enjoy!_

_-- Tyler_

* * *

Original Cindy glanced up from her locker as Sketchy appeared around the corner, his face longer then a mules and his eyes shifting uneasily towards the dispatch counter (and Normal).

"Where you been?" Cindy challenged as he approached, and Sketchy ducked under one of the overhanging bikes before gripping her arm casually and pulling her behind a set of lockers.

"Easy, alright? Normal's gonna pull a muscle in his throat yelling at me if he finds out I skipped the decontamination _hose-down _and came into _work_."

"Say what?" Cindy crinkled up her nose and narrowed her eyes as she looked him up and down, "Boy, you _wreak_ o' sewer – think Normal's somehow gonna miss out on _that_?"

"I'll go home and change." Sketchy didn't seem to notice the incrimination odor as he cast a furtive look over his shoulder and continued, "Spoke to Max and Alec 'bout our little problem."

"Really." Cindy raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, "You done traipsed into Terminal City in broad freaking daylight?"

"Sewers." Sketchy reminded her, "I'm not stupid."

"You're not _dead_." She responded coolly, "'N you still got all your limbs to boot – which means Max and Alec musta hit where you it don't show. What are you thinking, Sketchy?"

"I was _thinking_," He raised his eyebrows at his shorter, browner affiliate, "that they could take care of this _incarceration_ threat looming over our heads before we're all out of work and in the can!"

"Max 'n Alec got enough on their plates without havin' to sort this one out as well." Cindy informed him matter-of-factly as she poked him the chest.

"Yeah well it's not like they wouldn't have found out anyway." Sketchy protested as he rubbed the back of his neck, "It just woulda been too late for them to do anything under the table."

Cindy's lips twisted as she cocked an eyebrow at him, "Just what exactly are Max and Alec meant to _do_ about this anyhow?"

* * *

"I'm just sayin', Max, we're not gonna get anywhere with this one till we find out who's behind it." Alec spread his hands as he raised his eyebrows up at Max's pacing form, "And the only way to do that is to start with asking Normal who he got the visit from."

"Oh _right_," Max paused to smile cynically at Alec, "Cuz we can just waltz into Jam Pony and make Hard-Hat spill the beans without attracting _any_ attention whatsoever."

Alec's eyebrows fell, "You know, sarcasm's only therapeutic when you get it _right_."

"Yeah well you can lecture me on that _later_ – just take a number and get in line." She ignored the purse of Alec's lips at the remark as she placed her palms on the table and sighed.

"We can't risk anybody else on this one – we're gonna have to go it alone."

Alec nodded as his gaze fell to the dusty windowpane of Max's apartment, "Mole made it pretty clear this morning that backing was outta the question as far as he was concerned."

"It's fine, we can take care of it ourselves." Max pushed away from the table as her pager beeped, fingering the device and frowning at the caller ID.

"Speak of the devil." She thumbed the power off and tucked her pager into her pocket. Alec resisted the urge to suggest that Max hand it over – he had become used to assisting her as stalker repellent on more then one occasion (tricking Logan did _not_ count).

"Yeah good on ya, Maxie. You tell him where to go." Alec stood up and stretched his arms over his head before swinging them into a clap, "Right, so I take Normal, you take Logan and we double up for the inevitable knuckle-grinding – sound good to you?"

"I guess." Max sounded almost despondent at the whole situation, and Alec instinctively knew that she was blaming herself for the fall-out their former workmates were now experiencing.

"S'not your fault, Max." He informed her quietly as he moved to stand beside her and patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah well whether that's true or not, it's still my _problem_." Max was staring vacantly at the table with silent distress on her striking features.

"It's _our_ problem." Alec responded, before he cleared the air with a matter-of-fact sniff as he headed for the door, "Right, see ya later then."

"Where you going?" Max queried, and she found herself genuinely surprised at the small desire inside of her wishing Alec would stick around and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Alec seemed equally taken aback by the tone in which Max had spoken the words as he rested a hand on the doorframe, "Central, first – to tell Mole to mind his own damn business on this case. Then Normal's, I guess." His eyes narrowed in concern, "Why, you uh need me for somethin'?"

_Yes. No. I don't know. _Max shook her head and closed her eyes briefly as if the action would rattle her brain back into gear, "Forget it. Just…call me when you know who's pulling the strings with this."

"Sure thing." Alec flashed her a reassuring smirk before smacking the doorframe and disappearing through the threshold.

Max sank into a hard-backed dining room chair and folded her arms on the table before dropping her head in between them.

_Okay Max, what the __hell__ was that?_

_

* * *

  
_

Slipping in and out of Terminal City was a relative breeze for the average transgenic – even with the perpetual hover-drone presence patrolling the perimeter and angry civilian militia.

_Least they called off the squad cars,_ Alec noted duly as he swung his legs over the saddle of his Triumph and snapped his biker gloves in place, _Mutual exchange of good will my ass. We had to pull every single one of our snipers back before they even __attempted__ to return the favor. _

"You're 494, right?"

He glanced up cautiously and then grinned slightly at the pre-teen X7 boy from his rescue the previous day, "Yeah well, you get to call me Alec. Everyone else does."

"How do you pick a name?" The boy had large brown eyes that were wide with something akin to curiosity, and the dirty brown curls entangled around his ears suggested it had been some time since he'd been groomed at all, "At Manticore we didn't have names."

"Well this ain't Manticore, so uh…" Alec's grin broadened as he threw a quick look around to ensure his leaving was going undetected, "Guess you can call yourself whatever name you want to, kid."

"Kid." The boy nodded, "It's a good name." His eyebrows flickered up in worry at the laugh which escaped Alec, "Does it mean something bad? Did I make you angry?"

"No, no. It's just uh…" Alec quickly smothered his laughter into a smile and reached out, tousling the boy's hair, "You know what, Kid's a great name."

"Really?" The boy's eyes somehow managed to widen.

"Yeah, it suits you." Alec stated with an affirming nod as though that settled the matter.

"So where you going?"

Again with the eye thing. Alec began to fight the eerie suspicion that this boy was in fact a Psy-Ops prodigy on Mole's payroll. The nomalie had already threatened to have Alec and Max _tagged_ against their knowledge (and _consent_, but that apparently didn't hold water with the driven transgenic).

"Out." Was Alec's ruthless response as he revved the engine of his bike to life and glanced over his shoulder as the young boy stepped back a few paces.

"On a mission?"

"Somethin' like that." Alec cracked a poignant grin at the child's twisted innocence and gripped the handles of the Triumph, "See ya round, Kid."

"Bye, Alec!" The boy responded earnestly as Alec accelerated to full speed, tearing up the ramp that sent his bike flying over the walls of Terminal City. Gravity kicked in just as he cleared the vigilantes stumbling on the scene, the suspension on his baby lessening the jolt of rubber hitting concrete as he sped out of firing range and around a corner, bullets ricocheting off the license plate of the motorbike.

_Too easy. _

_

* * *

  
_

Ames White let his mouth hang open insipidly as he watched the figure whizzing by.

_A Triumph. __Someone's__ clearly desperate. _

He scrubbed his hand across his jaw as his phone buzzed, reaching into his suit jacket and holding the device to his ear after glancing at the caller ID.

"Fenestol." Ames' eyes narrowed into a squint as he pulled his car onto the road with one hand, "Don't worry, I'm on it." He nodded at the Sector Cops patrolling the border as they waved him through, "It's called working the blind spot, Senator. You of all people ought to be familiar with the tactic…I said I'd take care of it. Let me do my job."

Ames disconnected the call and tucked his phone away before placing both hands on the steering wheel – just in time to hit the brakes and avoid the ragtag bike rider who cut across his path at an intersection.

White's face flushed angrily as he punched the horn repeatedly and leant out his window to glare at the young man who was remounting his fallen bike.

"Watch where you're fucking going!"

"Hey, sorry man!" The youth held up his hands briefly before shoving a stray package into his backpack and pedaling away in rapid retreat from White's acerbic glare.

"Fucking bike messengers." White muttered with a great deal more emotion then he normally unleashed as he continued on Alec's trail. _It's days like these the job becomes a pleasure._

_

* * *

  
_

The midday winter sun had managed to puncture the ambling clouds that seemed to have gathered to grumble over the drab apartment complex where Reagan Ronald had made his home. Alec had only been over to his former boss' pad once – and that was an experience he would rather not repeat. It had been right after his _uncomfortable_ defeat at Max's hand (or rather her foot) cage fighting at Mia's behest.

Didn't he still owe Max some incredibly evil payback for that one? Her low-stooping maneuver had knocked her a substantial few notches down on Alec's 'worthy of respect' list. That would have been punishment enough except for the fact Max had now earned back said brownie points.

_Wonder how she'd react to the itchy powder tactic?_ Alec smirked and shook his head as he parked his bike and tucked his hands into his pockets, glancing causally around as he strode through the Fire Exit entrance into Normal's apartment.

Nah, Max had enough making her uncomfortable just then – to the point where Alec was actually attempting to _alleviate_ her circumstances rather then aggravate them.

The stairwell was dark, green and dingy. Peeling wallpaper and mold climbing the sideboards alerted Alec to the fact that decadence was becoming a household word even in middle-class suburbia.

Normal's lock was of the 'easy-to-pick' caliber, but Alec was fairly certain that knocking was both safe and strategic. Normal could be damn pissy if his personal stomping grounds were encroached upon – not to mention the fact that the last meeting between the edgy Jam Pony boss and his 'Golden Boy' had gone down rather sourly.

After the first rap of his knuckles against the door, Alec rocked back on heels and waited patiently. Sure enough, the snippy response echoed through the well-worn oak.

"Not givin' anymore statements. I already told your bosses – if they want an interview that's not a repeat o' what's already printed, they can…"

"Normal, open up. S'me."

Alec was less then fazed by the silence following his response. A full minute passed before the door cautiously clicked open, a chain linking it to the doorpost and obscuring the suspicious face peering out at the X5.

"Well take me Jesus." Normal muttered, and Alec shrugged with a friendly smile.

"Gonna invite me in?"

"Gimme one good reason why I should." Normal retorted briskly, "Last time I let one o' you genetically-modified…"

"Genetically _enhanced_."

"Just get a move on before the stakeout teams catch sight of you. Now _bip_!" Normal moved to close the door but Alec shoved a foot in it and pasted on his most gracious, genuine expression.

"Look, just lemme in, alright? I'm here to help."

"Think you done your fair share already, mister, what with the cops breathing down my neck 24-7." Normal stated flatly, "Now clear on out – and tell Missy Miss she left a pile of crap in her locker, so if she doesn't want me to throw it out she should…hey!"

Normal's indignant bleat of protest came as a result of the deft hand Alec slipped through the door, unhooking the chain as he stepped inside the apartment and closed the door behind him.

"This is private property." Normal huffed at Alec's countenance as the X5 surveyed the cushy bachelor pad with a raised eyebrow of approval.

"This is _pimped_ property, Normal. Does uh…" Alec raised both eyebrows as he waggled a finger in the direction of the rotund sofa, "that fold out into a love nest?"

"I'm a blue-collar professional, Alec, now what do you want?" Normal barked out the demand as he cast shifty eyes toward the windows.

"I want a full run-down on the suits who threatened you 'n the team with time for refusing to _fabricate_." Alec stated blandly as he leant against the patterned wallpaper and folded his arms.

Normal's eyebrows gathered at the bridge of his glasses, "Why, so you can open a can of _whoop-ass_ on them all and get me locked up for certain? I think not."

"Yeah well I think _so_, Normal." Alec informed him dryly, "And so does Max for that matter."

"Max knows about this?" Normal sounded notably put-out at the concept.

"Yep and she's jettin' steam, man, so if I were you?" Alec pushed away from the wall and leant forward with a congenial smile that completely didn't suit the guile in his green eyes, "I'd spill the beans now before she collars it outta you and goes all agro on their asses." He shrugged, "Cuz that would just escalate the situation unnecessarily if you know what I'm mean."

"Uh huh." Normal seemed to be getting the (somewhat embellished) picture, "And how exactly do you intend on preventing _unnecessary escalation_ in the _situation_, if you don't mind my asking?"

Alec beamed his former boss a grin, "Just leave that one to me why don't ya, huh?"

The hard-nosed Jam Pony owner was less then convinced by the gesture of assurance, but he nevertheless obliged his former employee.

"Said they were FBI." Normal shifted on his feet uncomfortably, "Same guys who dropped by back when that transgenic got shot on the news."

"Is that right?" Alec seemed less then pleased by the knowledge as he rested his broad shoulder blades against the wall and squinted in concentration as Normal continued.

"Walked in like they owned the place." Normal paused and cast Alec a dubious glance, "Weren't transgenics, were they?"

"Nowhere in the same genetic ZIP code." Alec reassured him staunchly, "Though they'd like to think they were as pretty."

"Huh." Normal grunted as he stalked nervously over to the mini-bar gracing his kitchen and poured himself a tall glass of Jack Daniels, "Anyway damn bastards ain't getting nothing outta me. Already told'em everything I know, lawsuits aren't credible in cases like this."

"Sure." Alec nodded in agreement, trying to keep a lid on the fact that _lawsuits_ would never come into play 'in cases like this'. The Conclave would do as they fucking pleased and keep Team Jam Pony on ice till the cows came home if they felt like it.

"I'd offer you a drink, Alec, but you really should be hitting the road." Normal dropped some ice into his glass and took a quick gulp as his eyes shifted behind thick-rimmed glasses to the window once again, "They've got the place caged, I'm pretty sure of it."

"Yeah well don't worry, they won't be sticking around much longer." Alec stated wryly before offering the man a friendly smile, "Keep your head up, alright? Stuff's gonna take care o' itself soon enough."

"This ain't a case of 'give the devil enough rope and he'll hang himself', Alec." Normal stated reprovingly, "These people may be pains in the asses but they're smart. Don't piss'em off."

"They're always pissed off." Alec smirked benignly before patting Normal's shoulders and heading for the door, "Just concentrate on finding a couple of employees as awesome as me 'n Maxie."

"Wherever will I find such true and honest folks?" Normal's sarcastic gripe flooded Alec's countenance with warmth as the X5 disappeared through the door and headed quickly down the steps.

He had barely gotten through the door when he was set upon by a set of mean-looking thugs armed with stun prods.

Alec's body gyrated with the electricity coursing through him before he broke away, gripping the forearm of the man attacking him and flipping his opponent clear over his shoulder. Alec ducked under the swinging stun prod which glanced the tip of his ear and charged the second assailant. The pair crashed into a batch of trash cans and sent them clattering to the ground as Alec wrestled his attacker amidst the spilled garbage.

Blue static crackled through the air in angry swirls as the attacker swiped the stun prod at Alec's head. The X5 rolled back to avoid the blow and slammed his boot repeatedly into the man's face as he did so. Somersaulting onto his feet, Alec straightened up just in time to catch another stun prod straight in his abdomen as the first opponent struck viciously.

Alec pulled back, his breath staggered and his vision blurring with pain as he doubled over. His back hit the frozen concrete and his fingers scrambled to find purchase on the gritty wall of the apartment as he attempted to straighten once more.

Suddenly, at the precise moment when both of his assailants moved in for the joint kill, the sound of gunshots snapped through the air like the clear ring of a bell. Alec instinctively ducked behind the one standing garbage can and heard the groans of his attackers as they hit the asphalt.

"Alec!"

The voice was young but self-assured, and Alec narrowed his eyes in confusion as he peered out from behind the can to catch sight of his potential rescuer.

It was the X6 boy that he'd pulled to safety the previous night, clutching a .44 and looking around with his wide, brown eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Alec demanded, and Kid flinched back from the harsh tone in the adult transgenic's voice.

"You were in trouble, I…" The boy glanced anxiously from the bleeding bodies on the ground to the incensed X5 looming over him, "I just wanted to help."

"Come on." Alec took hold of the kid's collar and hauled him along to the Triumph sitting stoic not too far off. Alec kept his eyes sharp for signs of further attack as he hoisted the X7 onto the front of the seat and swung on behind him.

"Who were those men?" The boy queried, receiving no response from Alec but a brisk 'hold on' as the X5 revved the bike to life and sped down the alleyway, exhaust smoke thawing at the chilly air in their wake.

* * *

"What happened?" Max was on them before Alec even pulled the bike to a full and total stop, her brown eyes thick with apprehension as she noticed the kid perched on the front of Alec's saddle.

"You took him with you?" She demanded, ready to cuff Alec a good one at the outrageous possibility.

Except that his response mirrored her sentiments.

"Why the _hell_ would I do something like that?" Alec seemed well and truly pissed as his boots hit the ground and he gripped the boy's arm none too gently, "Off." He ordered, and Kid compliantly slid onto his feet with an anxious glance towards Max.

"I just wanted to help."

"How, by getting yourself killed?" Alec barked before Max had a chance to voice her equally reprimanding statement. She raised her eyebrows and wondered if she had ever honestly seen the normally complacent X5 this upset before.

"They were gonna kill you!" The young boy responded as he waved his hands, and it was then that Max noticed his gun.

"Give me that." She snatched it away and widened her eyes at Alec (who, Max noted with alarm, looked ready to tear the kid a new one). "What happened?"

"Got jumped outside o' Normal's and _Junior_ here decided to come in packing!"

"My name is Kid!" The boy declared with enough obstinacy to filter any humor out of the sentence.

"Quiet." Max ordered sternly, and the pale-skinned youth settled for glaring at her instead as he shifted his footing from side to side while she turned to address Alec once more.

"White's guys?"

"More likely then not, though I didn't get a chance to find _out_ before Rambo here shot'em _dead_." Alec motioned a hand towards Kid once more and Max assessed that she needed to separate the two before full-on war commenced.

"Right, you, where are you staying?" She bent down slightly to gain eye-contact and was taken aback by the breadth and depth of the boy's dark brown eyes. It was like a strangely familiar lukewarm blanket.

"Max?" Alec's insistent voice jolted her from her reverie, and she straightened the curve in her spine before addressing Kid.

"Wherever you're bunking down, I'd beat it there fast."

He actually had the nerve to scowl, "They would've got him if I hadn't…"

"That would mean _now_." Alec interrupted with a ruthless cool that was clearly spread thin.

Kid huffed out a breath in the cold air before him as he turned and dug his hands into the pockets of his gray hoodie, "You're welcome."

"Don't." Max stated matter-of-factly, slapping out a hand without looking to catch Alec in the chest before he lunged forward, "He's just a kid, Alec."

"Damn straight he is." Alec glared after Kid's retreating form as it disappeared, "And I think it's about time he was reminded of that little factor."

"Speaking of factors," Max hastily switched topics as she gripped her jean, wool-lined jacket tighter around her and cursed the clouds behind which the winter sun had suddenly hid its face, "Normal have anything useful to cough up?"

Alec's frown was still present but it was slightly less lucid as he kicked a discarded can to and fro absently and pocketed his hands into his jacket, "Well White's the one behind it, that much he _did_ say."

Max quirked a brief glower, "And how much exactly _didn't_ he say?"

"Max, relax, alright? Guy told us as much as he knew." Alec squinted at the sun as it appeared once more and thumbed the bottom of his nose with a token sniff, "Normal's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he ain't an idiot either. He's in full stubborn-bastard mode right now and that's gonna work to our advantage in buying time for a plan."

"I gave Logan a buzz while you were gone. Turns out Sung offered Normal and co witness protection a couple weeks back in exchange for the full dig on what went down with White's muscle queens." Max glanced up at the curious expression on Alec's face, "Predictably Normal called proxy and turned him down."

Alec shook his head with a wry smirk, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Yeah well, I figure the first step would be getting everybody at work to speak for themselves and shake hands with Sung on it." Max sat down on a crumbling brick wall and pressed her palms against the cool surface as Alec stood in front of her, "Got any smart ideas?"

He shrugged, "Sketch and Cindy'd do it in a heartbeat, but I dunno about the rest of them. If Normal's mouthing the idea to pieces, a good chunk o' the guys are gonna side with him."

"So basically our prerogative is to get Normal to sign the dotted line." Max smiled tightly as though less then thrilled by the prospect. Her eyes brightened as she raised an eyebrow up at Alec, "Wanna play good cop/bad cop?"

He smirked patronizingly, "Max, you couldn't play bad cop if you tried."

She scoffed, "Please – how do you think Cindy and I ruled the roost back at Jam Pony?"

Alec's eyebrows squirmed in disbelief, "Only thing you guys ruled was the four-foot vicinity of your _lockers_."

"One o' you mind tellin' me what the hell is goin' on around here?"

Max's face set into a stone barrier, and she stood up impassively as Mole appeared on the scene, the ruby pigments in his eyes standing out impressively – along with his apparent anger.

"Just testin' out the clichéd scenario, Molie-boy." Alec's causal grin worked in opposition with his body language as he took the two steps forward it took to place him between Max and the nomalie, "You know, a boy, a girl, a back alleyway…"

"That waggin' tail o' yours is gonna be between your legs when you get wind o' what's going down outside Central." Mole responded curtly.

"What do you mean?" Max queried, stepping up to stand alongside Alec.

* * *

"What the _hell_ is going on?!" Max's voice blasted danger in volumes as she, Alec and Mole hovered at the threshold of Central's open-air entrance, watching the complete chaos into which the building had fallen.

"You familiar with the term 'urban warfare'?" Mole was fingering the rifle he kept perpetually plastered to his side as he spoke, "Well it's younger, uglier twin's taken up camp. We got X series versus nomalies and it's gettin' nastier by the second."

"Shit." Alec yanked Max's arm down to pull her out of range of the bottle that smashed at the wall behind their heads, "Alright that's _enough_!" He yelled over the noise of transgenics battling it out, but Max snagged his wrist as he moved forward to put his money where his mouth was.

"Wait." She intoned before launching her elbow at the fire alarm in the wall, shattering the glass and punching the button in a single move. Instantly a screeching alarm blasted through the overheads and gradually put a stand-still to the fighting.

Max snatched the intercom hanging on the wall and glared at the crowd of grappling Manticorians, "Games over, people! Unless you got a death wish I suggest you haul ass back to whatever joint you're calling home!"

Tank's head, sporting a stream of blood from a cut in his forehead, appeared from under a crowd of nomalies as he shrugged them off and rested his hands on his knees. His breath was jagged and razor-sharp as Alec and Max stalked through the crowd of glaring, retreating transgenics to his side.

"You okay, man?" Alec helped his buddy to straighten up and threw Max a sharp expression as she opened her mouth to begin a lecture.

"Yeah." Tank swallowed at the blood coating his lips as he raised a split eyebrow at the X5 pair, "I dunno what the hell just went down. One minute it was all good and the next it was the civil war's fucking reincarnation."

"What set it off?" Max queried, noting with panic the complete whirlwind of disaster left in the wake of the dissipating crowd.

"No freaking clue." Tank shook his head. "Just tried to break it up once it got outta hand."

"Well _someone_ knows what happened." Alec stated turgidly as he surveyed the broken tables and chairs with notable disapproval, "Though it musta been something royal to get the whole damn Central crew in a hustle."

"Was it some kinda racial crack?" Max raised her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips as she did so, "Cuz it seemed pretty specific – every X-series had a nomalie on their ass."

"Some of us had more then one." Tank agreed dismally, "I dunno, Max. What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing." She smiled acerbically, "Just find out what went down. If we can nip this bitch in the bud before anymore fights breakout, it might _just_ be advantageous."

"You know there's a time and a place for sarcasm." Tank ground out as he leant against the stair railing and flashed Alec a look demanding back-up.

"So your Siamese twin keeps tellin' me." Max rolled her eyes and brushed past her fellow X5s as she stalked over a splintered chair and out the back door of Central.

Fresh air greeted Max's lungs and she inhaled deeply, palming her forehead briefly to ward off the splitting headache threatening to launch. Max didn't get headaches – she didn't even get accosted with the _threat_ of one.

She guessed she should be worried. Not that she had time for that right now.

Her eyes furrowed suddenly as she came face to face with Kid. He was standing directly opposite her, just a few meters off from the warehouse that was Terminal City Central.

His pale skin and rosy lips contrasted sharply with the dark of his eyes as he stared blankly at Max. She froze in her tracks and took in the sight of the young X6 for a moment too long before he turned and strolled matter-of-factly around the block and out of sight.

_Okay._ Max resisted the urge to head back inside and share the details with the others. Alec would probably jump to conclusions and Mole and Tanker wouldn't understand anyway, so she decided against it.

Still – there was something really _off_ about the kid. And Max was beginning to wonder if she now had other reasons besides her potential headache to be worried.

Not like she had time for that right now.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sincere apologies for the unforgivable delay in updating**, everybody. **Got drafted for a WEEK of babysitting **for my sister at literally a moment's notice (thank god volunteer work allows for flexible schedules). **The nephew had acute tonsillitis **and of course failed to be diagnosed properly until one day before I split - hence lots of whining and crying). **Anyway *shakes head to clear brain*, point is I had this baby almost ready for you guys** right before I had to split, so **I finished it first thing when I got home tonight** and well..here it is.**Love you all for the reviews so far and KEEP THEM COMING, m'kay?**_

**_-- Tyler_**

* * *

"I'm telling you, Max, that's all we got."

Max's eyes flicked from the sullen (and somewhat bruised) visage of Dix to Alec's figure slouched against the wall behind the nomalie's chair. The X5's arms were crossed and though he wore an even expression, the gleam in Alec's eyes suggested he was less then pleased with Dix's explanation of events.

"One minute, everything's fine." Joshua agreed as he attempted to lick several droplets of water from the melting icepack he had been holding against his black eye, "Then suddenly, screaming, yelling, people flying everywhere."

"It wasn't like one specific instance set it off." Luke piped up in a somewhat more timid voice (mainly because he was the only one that didn't have his back to Alec and was getting the brunt of both X5's disapproving auras). "Was just the normal friendly banter, 'cept that people just didn't let it slide for once or somethin'."

"Look, I know circumstances have been stressful recently, but you can't just take that as a license to start swinging." Max rubbed at the side of her temple in an effort to calm the hammering pulse, "We gotta stick together if we wanna…"

"Don't even think about throwing a lecture our way, Max, cuz this is in _no_ way our fault!" Dix snapped, shoving away from his chair and jabbing a finger at Max as he spoke, "You wanna lord it over someone, why don't you pitch a fit at the _X-series_ for a change, huh? Not like that's ever gonna fucking happen."

"Hey!" Alec's sharp reprimand was a verbal shove to the shoulders as Dix whirled around to glare at him, "Take it easy, alright? No need to go making this personal."

"Oh really?" Dix waved an arm, clearly incensed and in no mood to be squelched during a rant, "Cuz _personal_ is exactly how things are looking from my point of view right now!"

"Not like you have such a great scope on the world with one fucking eye." Tank mumbled from where he was binding up his swollen, bloody knuckles a short distance off.

Dix swirled on his heels, "The fuck did you just say?"

"Oh you heard me, Cyclops!" Tank snapped bitterly, and Max's eyes locked with Alec's in complete bewilderment.

"Doesn't take two eyes to see you're a sorry, fucked-up, son of a bitch!" Dix hissed as he advanced on Tank, who threw down the gauze he was holding at the statement.

"That's it."

"Yeah? You up for Round Two now?"

"Okay, you know what, just stop this!" Max slammed her fist down onto the table as she rose to her feet and positioned herself between the two warring transgenics, "Everybody just calm the hell down!"

"Why d'you keep looking at _me_ when you say that? Why don't you look at _him_?" Dix seethed as he motioned to Tanker, who rolled his eyes at the remark.

"Aw, does little Dixie feel singled out?"

"You're a fucking dead man…" Dix lunged but Max shoved him back with enough force to send him clattering into a pile of broken wood.

"I said that's _enough_!" She turned to glare at Tanker as Dix pulled himself to his feet with a snarl pasted on his face, "We let them get under our skin like this, we may as lie down and let White walk all over us."

The silence which followed Max's commanding statement meant grudging consent as Dix glared out the window and Tanker exchanged glances with Alec before sighing heavily at Max.

"Fine. But can we just call it quits on this whole 'blame game' thing here, cuz it's just going in circles."

"There is one way to know who did what if you're really scrapin' for detail." Mole piped up indolently.

"Yeah why don't we tie an _anvil_ to the feet of everybody who was involved and toss'em in a lake? If they float…"

"Shut up." Max nipped the virulent remark in the bud before Dix had a chance to finish it. She nodded at Mole, "What's your plan?"

"The proverbial black box." He slapped a hand on the railing as he hiked the stairs, Max, Alec, Tanker and the three nomalies on his heels. "You wanna see who threw the first swing, just gotta check out the security footage."

"Wait, there're _cameras_ in this joint?" Tank queried with a wave of his finger, and Dix's lips twisted.

"Yes. _Obviously_."

"What's obvious to _some_ is fresh knowledge to _others_." The X5 scowled before he turned to Alec, "Did you know about this?"

"Maybe." Alec responded before he cracked a grin, "Why, Tanker, you uh get a little action on one o' the tables or something after hours?"

"Maybe." Tanker replied in a sour tone as they gathered around the monitor that Mole was shoving Luke behind.

"Go on, Luke. Show us whatcha got." Mole patted the nomalie's shoulder as Luke's fingers scrambled into action.

"'Kay fine, but I dunno what you think you're gonna find." Luke grumbled as he accessed the security footage from that day, "Already told ya, there's nothin' to see."

"In that case you should have nothing to worry about." Max took up camp in the chair beside him and leant forward as the flaky display screen flickered into life.

"Wow," Alec smiled smugly at the sight of his Triumph pulling into Central in grainy pixels, "Who's that awesomely sexy dude?"

"You're such an air-head." Max offered the response almost automatically as she nodded at Luke, "Fast forward till about five minutes before the fighting broke out."

Luke hissed slightly (in what Max deemed to be frustration), but did as she requested, "What exactly are we meant to be looking for?"

"Just keep going. I'll know it when I see it." Max leant an elbow on the desk and kept her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. Truth was she had no clue in hell what they were meant to be looking for. Body language displaying aggression, forwardness? Those were practically virtues amongst the transgenic population, it seemed – and came as naturally as breathing, to boot.

Nope, not a clue in freaking hell.

Wait.

"Go back." Max clutched Luke's wrist, her sharp brown eyes alert and piercing the video image of none other then Kid standing clandestinely in the corner of the warehouse.

"Stop."

Max leant forward and narrowed her eyes slightly to better interpret the picture she was seeing. The frozen images of an X5 and a feline nomalie conversing animatedly were overshadowed by the figure they dwarfed – Kid – who was directly between them and staring with eyes wide as saucers.

"Roll it." Max knew the motion was merely procedural at this point. She for one had seen all she needed to – and judging by the protracted inhale from Alec as he leant over her shoulder to view the footage, Max gathered she wasn't the only one.

The thirty-one seconds it took for the argument to get physical was more then enough time for the viewers to begin loudly issuing their individual hypothesis'.

"Right, that does it." Alec's matter-of-fact proclamation and his about-face were both intercepted by Max's hand gripping the edge of his jacket.

"_Alec_."

"Max, he's danger on two feet."

"So what're you going to do, take him out?" She raised her eyebrows caustically.

"Lock him up." He responded bluntly, "Till we can figure out what his game is, I'm not lettin' him within an inch of anybody he can work his mojo on."

"Okay, clearly I'm missing something here." Jace spread his hands, "Who the hell is 'he'?"

"Kid." Max and Alec both retorted simultaneously before casting each other reproving scowls.

"What, the little guy in the shot?" Luke's eyebrows hit the roof, "Hey isn't he one of the X6s Alec brought in yesterday?"

"Don't remind me." Alec grunted, and Max rolled her eyes as she pushed away from her chair and stood up.

"What, you think he's pullin' some kinda mind game on us?" Dix queried.

"We don't know that."

"Not think, _know_."

Max and Alec had once again issued the statements in unison and glared at each other for the second time in two minutes.

"This is ridiculous. Look you guys are blowin' this way out of proportion." Mole placed a hand on the back of Luke's chair and nodded towards Max, "It was just a blow-out caused by lack o' decent grub and shut-eye. Central team's been bustin' their asses non-stop for a month now and the stress is just…"

"They worked us like pack mules back at Manticore, Mole. I highly doubt that present circumstances measure up." Max's explanation was backed by Alec's accompanying addendum.

"If things were gonna come to blows, they already would've, okay? This _kid_ is the one pullin' the strings here."

"Bull shit." Mole replied flatly, ignoring the challenging lift of Alec's eyebrows at the remark, "You're makin' excuses for the fact that Max's constant absence has been puttin' way too much strain on the rest of us."

"So now it's my fault, is that what you're saying?" Max didn't seem surprised at the accusation but the cold expression she wore suggested she was less then pleased.

"Your fault _and_ your problem." Mole emphasized the last word by a stab of his finger.

"Alright, you know what? This is ridiculous." Alec shoved past Mole and headed down the staircase, sparking the rest of the transgenics to follow sharply at his heels.

"Where d'you think you're goin'?" Mole demanded as Alec strode out of the building and into the drab gray of winter, "Has it occurred to you we have no idea where this Kid is even holed up?"

"I'll find him." The confidence in Alec's voice for one didn't come across as swaggery – and subsequently put Max at a great deal of unease, "Five years with a search-and-eliminate unit doesn't count for nothing, you know."

"Neither does a year on the outside learning to make yourself scarce." Max reminded him tactfully as she coiled her arm inside of his and eased him to a halt, "If he doesn't wanna be found, then locating him won't be easy. We should do this as a team."

"Hold up a second." Mole chewed at the end of his cigar before drawing it out of his mouth and waving it at the pair, "Are you guys serious 'bout this? I mean you honest-to-god think that A. This kid is Psy-Ops and B. He's actually _manipulating_ us against each other?"

"It's ugly but yeah, it's an option." Max had seen a lot of _ugly_ in her time – even amongst her own kind. And she was beginning to wish she'd sided with Alec from the start, however much she'd wanted to give the X6 the benefit of the doubt.

"Okay." Mole crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels, his cigar twirling in his fingers, "So supposing that's the case – how exactly d'ya intend to shut'im down? I mean if he's powerful enough to set forty-odd transgenics against each other all in one place at the same time, unless you got a freaking _Magneto_ helmet stored away somewhere, I don't see how this is gonna work."

"Same way tackling Psy-Ops'ers _always_ works." Alec stated matter-of-factly as he fixed the small huddle of transgenics around him with a smirk, "Reverse psychology and a heckuva lot of teamwork."

"Teamwork?" Dix's eyebrows shot up, "News flash, 494…"

"Don't fucking call me that." Alec's was quiet and full of muted danger. The brief flash of warning that flashed across his countenance blew over as suddenly as it had come.

Dix seemed somewhat shaken by the reaction, and aimed the rest of his statement at Max, "Somehow I don't see 'teamwork' bein' a feasibility with this kid out to have us at each other's throats."

"You think he's a plant?" Luke offered in a low voice as his eyes skirted the courtyard outside Central nervously, "Like from the Conclave?"

"Or the government." Max shrugged.

"Which is more or less then same thing." Mole heaved a drag of his cigar before flicking at the edge of it and glancing at the setting sun, "Well it's gonna be dark soon, so whatever we're gonna do, best do it now. No sense addin' to the factors against us by givin' the kid night cover to work with."

"Should we split up?" Joshua suggested, "We'd cover more ground that way."

"Max?" Alec nudged her from where she had been massaging the front of her temple in an attempt to beat her now throbbing headache.

"I dunno. This was your idea – you run with it." Max sighed and forced a lackadaisical tone into her voice as she raised an eyebrow at Alec.

A frown flickered across his face, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just beat." She dismissed the evident disapproval on the tip of Alec's tongue with a wave of her hand, "So what's the call?"

Alec's eyes were still hosting skeptical concern as he licked his lips and then squinted at the horizon, "Alright, Mole, Josh, you guys take the outskirts. Dix and Luke, you got everything within half a mile of Central, full-circle. Tanker, you 'n me'll take Oak Street.

"What about Max?" Joshua motioned to his Lil' Fella with a slight smile.

"Man the fort." Alec informed her, and Max's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.

"What? Forget it!" She looked ready for a fight.

"You didn't let me finish." Alec reminded her quietly, and Max's folded arms hugged her rib cage tightly as she allowed him to do so, "Whoever finds Kid knocks him out on the spot," This statement was directed at the entire search unit, "Don't care how big his eyes get, alright? Just take him out nice and quick, throw him over your shoulder and shag ass back to Central."

"Kinda got that figured – what's your point?" Max's words came with a ring of snap.

"Need you to be on the welcoming committee, get thing set up for when we bring him in." Alec pulled out his cell phone, "You'll have back-up."

"Who?" Max squinted sardonically.

Alec smiled briefly as he searched through the contacts list in his phone, "I'm callin' in a favor."

* * *

"Hi, Max!" Mia, the feisty, good-natured transgenic who had very brilliantly manipulated Max, Alec, Logan and her narcoleptic hubby Dougie less then a year before, paused to pout disconsolately at Max.

"Oh…honey. Why aren't you bed with a headache that nasty?"

Max smiled turgidly and avoided eye-contact, "It'll blow over. Besides, it's not like I have…"

"Time?" Mia's genial smile never left her face (it was almost unnerving), "Trust me – if you don't rest up while you have the chance, it's gonna get a whole lot worse."

"I'll wing it." Max said shortly as she sidestepped the woman and flicked the lights on in the grotty basement of the Central warehouse. As far as Max knew, Mia's telekinetic abilities didn't stretch to fortune-telling – her little prediction regarding Max and Logan's future hadn't panned out anyway.

_Logan. _

Max shut her eyes briefly at the stab of pain that pierced her heart. She forced the memories, remorse and self-loathing back into their designated slots in her mind. Brooding was never convenient these days – not that it had ever been anyway.

"You shouldn't blame yourself, you know." Mia's pealing voice sounded gently beside her, "You just did what you thought was best for him, Max."

"Look," Max turned to face the woman, who (she noted) was beginning to tilt her head in a way that made Max's stomach knot up, "I appreciate the effort, but do me a favor – stay the hell out of my mind, okay?"

"Max," Mia's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "I'm not reading your mind, just your face. You're transparent, you know…"

"Just save it for the kid, you got it?" Max raised her own eyebrows before turning and dragging a fold-up chair from the corner of the room, planting it firmly under the naked light bulb above them.

"What is this supposed to be, a third-degree interrogation?" Mia didn't seem to appreciate the set-up as Max flung open a dusty trunk and pulled out a long coil of rope.

"Until we know what he's capable of, we take precautions." Max stated as she fished around and procured a set of handcuffs, "You're here to psyche him out and also act as a shield in case he tries to pull the whammy on any of us."

"Yeah, yeah – I got it, Alec filled me in." Mia sighed, then paused to stiffen as she cocked an eyebrow at Max, "Wow…you have got a _lot_ of underlying tension."

"Yeah well you keep nosin' in on it, you're gonna experience some first-hand, you got that?" Max slammed the trunk shut and turned to glare at the transgenic.

"Easy, Max." Mia chided, "I'm here to help…and by the looks of things, not just with this kid problem."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Max responded belligerently.

"Sure you do." Mia sat down on a cluttered wooden table and crossed one leg over the other, "I mean this whole situation with Logan and Alec isn't getting any less complicated, and I mean everything that's been happening with the…okay!" She squeaked as Max's hands suddenly clamped around her collar and the X5's face was inches from her own.

"What's going on in my life is nobody's business but mine, you understand me?" Max's tone was low and cold as she shoved Mia's collar away and turned her back on the woman.

"Max…" Mia began hesitantly.

"Just stay out of it!" Max called as she strode hastily around the staircase leading out of the basement and put the solid oak steps and railings between her and the now truly concerned Psy-Ops offspring.

Just in time to prevent Mia from seeing the tears of complete confusion, frustration and pain trickle unobtrusively down her face. Max's eyebrows titled up momentarily and her shoulder shook once with a repressed sob, her lips pressed tightly together in effort to stave off a flood of crying.

A deep breath and a leather glove palmed across her face later, and Max was okay again. She was _always_ okay – there just wasn't time to be anything else.

"Max?"

She jumped at the sound of Alec's voice echoing down the steps, brushing her hair back behind her ears and sniffing once as she squared her shoulders and stepped around to hover at the foot of the staircase.

"Mia? You guys down there?"

"Ready and waiting." Mia called chirpily up the steps, with a quick glance in Max's direction as the latter headed up the steps to meet with Alec mid-way.

"You got him?"

"Not us – Dix and Luke managed to snag him in some godforsaken shack just two blocks off of Oak Street." Tanker sounded slightly irked by the near miss for his and Alec's team as he followed his buddy down the steps, ducking under the low=-hanging roof and launching an award-winning smirk as he caught sight of Mia.

"Well hello."

"Hi." She smiled coyly in return.

Tanker's grin broadened, "You must be..."

"Mia." Alec's hand on his shoulder caused Tank to meet sardonic green eyes, "Yeah. Don't even try it, man."

"That's not very nice." Mia frowned sourly as the men made their way down the staircase to join Max at its foot.

"Yeah well," Alec shrugged with an insincere grin, "Neither is a kick in the pants that leaves you pissing blood for a week, okay sweetie?"

"Wasn't that bad." Max scoffed, batting Alec over the back of the head with her palm as he walked past.

"Try gettin' kicked the nads, Maxie, then tell me that." He replied tightly, patting her shoulder briskly before he raised an eyebrow at the chair placed in the center of the room.

"I know," Mia sighed poignantly as she came to stand beside him, "Overkill much, huh?"

"Not really." He scoffed, eyes still glued to the chair, "Not compared with Psy-Ops anyway."

"Six months is a long time." She agreed, soft eyes bathing the young X5 in concern he failed to catch sight of, "You know, if you ever want to talk about it…"

"Oh Christ." Alec rolled his eyes as he pointedly turned and headed back up the staircase, prompting Tanker to frown.

"What're you doin'?"

"I'm puttin' a safe distance between me and her messed-up _mojo_, s'what I'm doin'." Alec grumbled tersely as he stalked up the stair railing, ignoring Mia's pitying sigh and Tank's accompanying snort.

Max raised an eyebrow as Tanker turned to her and stabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "What's with him?"

"Trust me," Max arched her other eyebrow and flashed him a brief, sardonic smile, "man has his reasons – and for once, they're justifiable."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Back with another update. Been a busy couple weeks **what with an** unexpected weekend road trip **to Leicester to take some teenagers on a street theater shebang. I swear those guys are made of iron - I pulled like five muscles and** ended up dead but it was lots of fun**. Anyway, glad I could get this up for you all.** Review it, m'kay? M'kay **(South Park is NOT the shizz, by the way :P). _

**_-- Tyler_**

* * *

"Alright, just bring'im down, nice and easy."

The sound of Alec directing Luke and Dix in regards to their unconscious quarry's destination brought Max's attention back to the task at hand.

She raised an eyebrow at the nomalies as they carried Kid's limp, motionless frame carefully down the staircase. The boy had been blindfolded and handcuffed but other then a nasty bruise forming on his right temple, he appeared to be unharmed.

"Good job."

"Oh really? I'll have to take your word for it, cuz uh, " Luke fumbled with Kid's ankles as he tripped on a step, nearly tumbling downwards and only managing to avoid doing so as Alec grabbed his arm, "you know it didn't really _feel_ 'good' knockin' an _eleven_ year-old out with the broad side of my _fist_."

"Yeah well don't go heapin' ashes on your head, man – it's nothin' he hasn't felt before." Dix, on the other hand, seemed less then fazed as he bundled Kid's arm tighter and nodded at Max, "Right, where you want Lil' Guy?"

"In the chair." She motioned behind her as Luke and Dix moved to comply.

"And don't call him 'Lil' Guy'. No terms of endearment." Alec groused, and Max rolled her eyes.

"Right, cuz _Kid_ is 'Lil Guy's' polar opposite."

He flashed her an acerbic smirk, "Well aren't you just a gem in the crown of society tonight?"

She raised her eyebrows with a patent Max Guevara smile of irony but made no further comeback.

"So let me get this straight." Mia's hands were planted on the curve of her hips as she slowly circled Kid's frame in its position slumped over the chair, "I'm looking at the single-handed perpetrator of a nasty, forty-odd transgenic slug-out. That right?"

"Ask him yourself." Alec sniffed as he unzipped his jacket and slid it down his shoulders, "That's what you're here for."

"That and being Alec's verbal punch-bag, apparently." Tanker's tone was full of disapproval as he assisted Max in cuffing Kid's ankles and wrists firmly to the chair.

"Least I can keep my _fists_ in line." Alec responded in a quiet mutter which, of course, reached Tank's ears loud and clear regardless and caused the X5 to glance up sharply from his work.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin', forget it." Alec raked his fingers through his hair as his jaw locked and then relaxed. Tank, however, was by no means ready to let the jab slide as he straightened up and spread his hands wide.

"What, so now you're better then the lowly _scum_ who got suckered by a Psy-Ops, is that what you're saying?"

"Dunno, is that what you're _feeling_?" Alec's tone was a patronizing as his words, "Cuz if you wanna _talk_ about your 'feelings', all you gotta do is cross the room and unburden your soul to _Mia_…"

"Hey!" Max scowled at the pair, "Can we _please_ just get through this night without killing each other here?"

Alec's lips pursed and he tossed his jacket onto the counter beside him. Tanker huffed out a sigh and raised an eyebrow at Kid's slumped frame.

"I still don't see how you intend to weasel anything out of him. He's X-series so if he's Psy-Ops as _well_ it means he's clearly trained for outlasting just about _any_ kind of torture."

"We're not planning on _torturing_ him." Max had though that was a given – but the furrowing of Tank's brow affirmed her suspicions otherwise.

_You can take the soldier out of Manticore…_

"Not suggesting we bring out the _pliers_ here, Max, but what other option do you see presenting itself?" Tank was genuinely broaching the question as opposed to being confrontational…a first, Max noted.

"Jesus, he's a _kid_, Tanker!" Alec was at least pitching his tent in Max's camp, it seemed.

"So what do _you_ suggest we do? Spank him?" Tank was less then impressed with his amigo's change in heart over the last Manticore-free year.

"Somehow I don't see that _presenting itself _as a constructive _option_ in this scenario, do you?" Max was quick to return the good deed as she launched a counter-attack in Alec's defense before throwing a sharp look over her shoulder at Mia's next statement.

"Guy's…he's waking up." The Psy-Ops woman scrunched up her nose as Kid began to stir, "Uh…Max?"

"What is it?" Max closed the space between them, eyes glued to Kid as he let out a muffled grunt in his throat and began to pull frantically against his bonds.

"He's strong…" Mia sounded worried – about what, Max wasn't exactly sure – "He's really, _really_ strong."

"What do you mean?" Max cast a cursory glance at Alec, who made it to the chair just in time to prevent it from tipping over as Kid entered full-blown panic mode.

"Hey! Easy, alright, _easy_!" Alec insisted, both hands gripping the chair's rim firmly as he bent down slightly to speak to Kid, "No one's gonna hurt you."

"Alec?" Kid's breathing was sharp and rigid, his nostrils flared and the lower half of his face not obscured by the blindfold pinched in alarm, "What's going on?"

"Drop the act, Kid – nobody's buyin' what you're selling." Tank's ruthless pragmatism was clearly unappreciated, and the joint glares that Max, Alec and Mia sent his way assured him of that fact.

"What are you talking about?" Kid's struggles were growing along with the fright in his voice, his breath spurting out in visible puffs through the cold air, "Look will somebody _please_ just tell me what's going on?"

"Actually we were hoping _you_ were gonna answer that one for us." Max nodded at Alec, "Take off the blindfold."

His eyebrows arched and he moved closer to lower his voice, "Max, I don't think that's such a good idea."

"If we wanna get him to _talk_ to us, we have to get him to _trust_ us first." She whispered in reply, and Alec's face soured in disapproval – and disagreement.

"If we wanna 'get him to talk' without _hurting_ him," The X5 male reasoned quietly, "we need him to understand who's in control."

"Yeah, I get it – scare tactics and all that. I know what Manticore taught us, Alec. I just…" Max shrugged with a somewhat dejected expression, "don't want to be like them. There has to be a better way to go about this kind of stuff with kids."

"Yeah well," The wryness in Alec's voice didn't disagree with her statement – it merely despaired of it, "you can bet Manticore never sat us down for _that_ class."

Max's face set in resignation as Alec's did likewise, and the latter moved to carefully untie the blindfold from around Kid's eyes.

"Don't try anything smart." Alec cautioned as he did so, "Cuz it would only be stupid."

"I…I don't understand!" Kid's eyes were wide and welling with unshed tears, two orbs of confusion and fear focused directly on Alec as he glanced up at the man, "Why am I handcuffed?"

"In case you try to run away?" Alec's suggestion was as sarcastic as the tone it rode upon, "Though of course, you do seem pretty anxious to hang around. Let's start with that, shall we?"

"Max," Mia sidled up beside her comrade, anxiety written across her petite features, "I'm not so sure this is gonna be easy. His mental defenses are stronger then anything I've ever encountered."

"We'll work as a team and break them down." Max responded confidently, eyes locked on the young boy's figure as she stepped forward, "Don't worry – Alec 'n I have done this before."

"Brain hardly counts." Mia's quiet reminder caused Max to seethe and turn to scowl at her, "Uh I mean…carry on."

"Look, I d…don't know anything about anything, alright? Just _please_ let me go." Kid's voice and lip was quivering now and it was apparent that a flood of crying was about to ensue.

"Okay, let's take a look at your barcode, shall we?" Alec (to Max's relief, because the Puss-In-Boots routine was really starting to strum heart strings) was clearly unmoved by the potential waterworks as he moved Kid's head down and brushed back a tuft of unruly hair to examine the boy's neck.

"Says here you're X-series…X6-627, that right?"

"62_6_." Kid responded in a shaking voice, and Alec locked eyes with Max, who tightened her lips determinedly.

"Ever spent time in Psy-Ops?" She watched carefully, intently, as Kid's eyes darted from Tank to Mole and then grew wider with alarm as they caught sight of the latter.

"Once, for evaluation. B...but it was standard." His eyebrows pinched tightly at the pinnacle of his forehead, when suddenly he froze as Mia came to stand alongside Max, a curious frown tugging at her lips.

"You sure about that, sweetie?"

The tilt of her head coincided with Kid's as his eyes mellowed out somewhat.

"I'm sure." He swallowed, and Mia's frown deepened.

"Well gosh, you know, I'm _not_ so sure." Her eyebrows rose as a kind smile spread across her face, "Considering the fact that I _recognize_ you, 626."

"I…I...I don't know you." Kid stammered tentatively, seeming alarmed by the look Alec and Max were exchanging as Mia continued.

"Sure you do." The curvaceous brunette was now riding the full current of her bubbly nature, "We even worked on that mission in Columbus together, remember?" Mia rested her hands on her thighs and bent down to smile at eye-level with Kid, "Well, you were pretty small."

"So he's Psy-Ops then?" Max folded her arms over her chest as Mia glanced over her shoulder to cast her a confirmatory nod.

"Definitely. I remember _him_."

"Kinda like the way I remembered _you_." Alec mused briefly only to roll his eyes at Max's caustic warning glance, "Okay then. Well, I'm in favor of skipping through the amnesia speculation and scrawling Lie Number _One_ on the chalkboard."

"I second that." Tank raised his hand, and Mole nodded in agreement.

"Please don't kill me!" Kid's sudden outburst of tears was not entirely unexpected – though the intensity of the sobbing was certainly convincing.

"No one's killing anybody!" Max assured him with a heavy sigh as she crouched down in front of the crying boy, "Hey, _hey_!" She sharpened her tone somewhat as she shook his shoulders, "Snap out of it, alright? We just want the truth."

"But I'm _telling_ you the truth!" He bawled even harder and fat tears spilled down his cheeks in unwavering measure, "I don't know what you _want_!"

"What we _want_ is to stop whoever's making you work for them. If you can tell us who they are, we can make sure they never bother you again." Max hoped the explanation was as simple as it seemed. She'd formulated it on the assumption that Kid _wanted_ out of whatever messed-up scheme he'd become victim to.

The alternative theory would certainly _complicate_ the issue.

"I'm not working for anybody." Kid sniffed and choked back a hiccough. Max glanced up at Alec, who raised an eyebrow briefly before his lips pressed together and he moved to stand beside her crouching frame.

"Alright, Hotshot, here's the deal." Alec raised his eyebrows and averted his gaze as Kid's now red and bleary eyes locked with his own, "Nobody's buyin' into that crap, so I suggest you come up with something a little more _believable_ if you wanna barter out information."

"You're on _somebody's_ payroll, Champ." Mia spoke the words with something akin to sadness as she tossed Kid a sympathetic expression, "Now _you_ can tell them, or I can pry through your mind and then _I_ can tell them. However you wanna play this is up to you."

"But I'm telling you the truth!" Kid had latched onto the phrase like a mantra, it seemed, only this time he fixed round, wet eyes onto Max and chewed at his trembling bottom lip, "You believe me, don't you?"

Max instantly regretted the eye contact. The lines separating certainty from speculation seemed to blur and morph as she was magnetically sucked into the deep orbs of Kid's shining, fragile eyes. She felt her will being bent and then broken.

"Of course I do." Max whispered in response, meaning the words on every level of her consciousness. A hand gripped her arm and tugged her to her feet, and the next thing Max knew, her left cheek was stinging with a small blush of pain.

"Sorry." Mia winced and actually sidestepped to stand behind Alec (who was too flabbergasted by the fact that the Psy-Ops offspring had up and _slapped_ Max Guevara to grace Mia with his token scowl), "It's the only thing that seems to work on victims of the brainwave bug."

"Works on victims of the heat-wave too, in my experience." Tank muttered to Mole, who crooked a grin at the X5.

"As if you've ever tried to snap'em out of it."

Max blinked several times and then furrowed her brow, nodding tightly at Mia, "Thanks."

"Right, well I think I'm safely within my rights to do _this_ again." Alec shrugged out of Mia's subconscious vicegrip and made short work of blindfolding Kid once more, much to the young boy's protests.

"No!" Kid jerked his head away but Alec managed to hold it fast and finish the job with at least a measure of the calm control that their charge was now no longer manifesting.

"Settle down." Alec's order was as full of warning as it was of coaxing, "Getting worked up isn't gonna help anything, Kid."

"Just get inside his head." Max murmured to Mia as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Find out who he's working for."

"It's not that simple, Max." Mia informed her with a grimace at a particularly loud wail coming from the boy in the chair, "I don't read minds, you know."

"I beg to differ." Max replied with a stony raise of her eyebrow, and Mia sighed with a shake of her head.

"I never 'read your minds', Max. You and Logan _told_ me everything I wanted to know."

"Fine, so don't read his mind – make him _tell_ you. I don't care," Max brushed past Mia as she headed for the staircase, "just get it done."

"Max, where you going?" Luke broached the question with alarm as he watched the X5 female hike the staircase with a small amount of difficulty.

"To clear my head." She called tartly over her shoulder, "I don't like being whammied – leaves a bad aftertaste."

Luke's reply (if he had even made one) fell on unreceptive ears as Max stalked quickly outside into the night air. Tilting back her head and closing her eyes, Max savored the crisp, frozen wind that whipped through her long, chestnut hair and at the fraying edges of her jeans.

A small shiver coursed through her body, and Max sighed as she opened her eyes and took in the flickering, scattered lights of Terminal City. Most of them were fires, she knew. TC's heating system was royally screwed – although Alec had a team working on some kind of complete overhaul. Max didn't really know the details…something about pilfering gas from nearby generators.

The pain throbbing in her cranium suddenly became sharp and overwhelming, and Max lurched against the rough, splintered wood of the warehouse and cupped her forehead in her palm.

"Shit." She whispered, but was fortunately diverted from her headache by the blaring of her mobile phone. Someone (likely Mole, because that man was Max's self-appointed aggravator) had changed the ring tone to the Kang-Kang.

"Hello?"

"Max, it's me." Logan sounded distracted, she noted.

"What's up?"

"Got some more scoop on that possible siege. Turns out they're planning on quarantining a one-mile radius surrounding Terminal City in two day's time under the pretence of a contamination scare." Logan's tone was dry and somewhat irked at the under-the-table maneuver, "The ministry of health's gonna be sniffing around the area tomorrow for the sake of the media."

"Oh – great. We can pick'em off from the rooftops." Max stated in sarcastic exuberance with a flail of her hand, "It's no big deal."

"Just thought you should know." Logan replied tersely, and Max wondered fleetingly if migraines were verbally contagious.

"Sorry, it's just…things are really messed up around here right now."

"I'll bet." He offered somewhat more benignly, "Alec mentioned something about a possible plant inside TC."

"When'd you talk to Alec?" Max narrowed her eyes skeptically – and suspiciously. Fortunately she managed to prevent either emotion from leaking into her voice. She always got edgy when Cyber-Hero and Smart-Alec engaged in any form of conversation – all it took was one slip-up from her less-then-co-operative alibi and Max's whole scheme was blown…or screwed…screwed and blown, actually.

"Called him a couple of hours ago with some info he needed on piping."

"Piping?" Max scrunched her nose up and then rolled her eyes, "You know what, never mind. With Alec, it's usually best to leave well enough alone."

"You're telling me." Logan's response was dutiful, Max knew – a subconscious reminder that the topic of her and Alec's relationship was never up for discussion if either she or Logan could avoid it.

"Anyway, as soon as the health inspectors clear the zone, I'll do an Eyes Only broadcast, try to shed some light before they section off the area and turn it into a war zone." The sound of Logan's doorbell chimed faintly in the background, "I gotta go."

"Expecting someone?" Max couldn't help the concern in her voice. Ever since White's gang had totaled Logan's apartment, she'd been riding the overprotective buzz.

"It's just Asha dropping off some stuff. I'm gonna be doing a streamer for the S1-W later on in the week." Logan explained, and Max felt her chest rise and fall with both relief and a faint sense of sinking.

"Say hi to her for me."

"Will do. Take care of yourself, Max."

She smiled, and it faded as fast as it had appeared before she snapped her phone shut and tucked it in her pocket.

A grating buzz suddenly shot from the pinnacle of her brain and filled her ears with a hollow, curdled ringing. Max sucked in a breath and placed both hands on her knees as a wave of nausea rushed through her.

_Oh come on!_ Max fought back the urge to vomit, _I don't __get__ migraines. I do__ not __get__ migraines__. _

"Apparently you do."

Max hadn't been aware that she'd said the words aloud – but evidently Alec (at least she gathered it was _his_ voice that pierced the ringing in her head) had heard them somehow.

"Come on, Maxie. Easy does it." He was talking again – each word was like a mallet slamming against Max's throbbing head. Hands gripped her arms, strong hands that seemed to act as conduits of solidarity as they eased Max to her feet.

"Ugh, I'm fine." Max attempted to brush Alec away, but she couldn't get a proper bearing on his location. The sudden appearance of a very glaring light which sent arcs of pain through her head detracted from her efforts.

"You're not." Alec stated flatly, "I'm taking you home." He slung Max's arm over his shoulder and hooked his own around firmly her waist, "C'mon."

A dark glower of grudging temporarily overshadowed the pinched grimace on Max's face as she allowed Alec to half-support, half-carry (because her boots were now only skimming the ground) her around the corner to where his motorbike was parked.

"I dunno what's wrong with me." Max admitted in a slurred voice which she barely recognized as her own – only the palpable irritation in the tone assured her of its identity, "God we don't have time for this shit."

"The shit we don't have _time_ for is still bawling its eyes out in the basement." Alec's response was almost a reproof. Max squinted against the flames crackling in a tall dumpster – the source of the 'blinding light'. God she was pathetic.

"On you get." Alec's grip had switched and he was now helping Max to straddle the bike while steadying her in the process.

"What? Forget it – I'm not driving a _Triumph_." Max forced the token grumble regarding Alec's taste in vehicles that she hoped would assure him of her well-being.

It didn't have the desired effect.

"You're not _gonna_ be 'driving' it. _I'm_ driving it, now shut up and hold on." Alec didn't sound as though he cared whether Max thought she was alright or not, and it miffed her terribly.

_As if that man knows what's good for __anybody__. He can't even take care of __himself__._ Max allowed herself the petty gripe as she grudgingly wrapped her arms around Alec's waist and clasped her hands together at his torso.

Huh. Alec wasn't wearing his jacket. _Must've forgotten it in the ardent rush to humiliate me with his overbearing heroics. _Max had never noticed how perfectly sculpted Alec's waist was – just broad enough to compliment the solid rows of muscle that comprised his abdomen. It was a tricky line to walk with a metabolism as high as the one she knew Alec sported.

Maybe he drank protein shakes when Max's gaze was averted – but she _highly_ doubted it.

* * *

The trip up the steps to Max's apartment was highly eventful – although by the time they reached her floor, it had blurred into the three most cringe-worthy minutes of Max's life. The pain in her head had spread to include her ears and eyes, and she felt as though her entire skull would explode at any welcome moment.

"'Kay, here we are." Alec fumbled with the keys Max had hastily handed him, twisting them in the lock and shoving the front door open as he supported Max with his other arm, "Alright, you know what, you _definitely_ have damp. Jesus." He turned up his nose at the smell of must as they entered the apartment, nudging the door shut with his foot and easing Max onto the rusty, iron-framed atrocity she was calling her bed.

Max normally would've thrown back a vicious response to the 'damp' remark, but the increasing virulence of her migraine prevented her from doing anything more then curling into a ball that was tight enough to make her knees and forehead meet.

Max was acutely aware of Alec bustling around in her kitchen area, and she hazarded opening her eyes just a sliver to monitor his actions – and to ensure he wasn't attempting to steal her Columbian coffee beans.

"What're you doing?" Max's voice had digressed from its usual clarinet texture into a croaky whisper that she found terribly pathetic.

"Getting something for your head." Alec responded as he ran the faucet and glared dangerously at the sputtering, tainted water that soaked the facecloth he'd evidently scored from Max's bathroom, "That's it. Soon as you're better, I'm finding you a decent apartment."

"Nothing wrong with my apartment." Max muttered, rolling at an agonizingly slow pace onto her back as Alec's weight creaked the mattress springs.

"Nothing _right_ with it, more like." He retorted in a softer voice, and the next thing Max knew, a cool washcloth was placed in neat folds over her blazing forehead.

"That stays there, okay?"

"Whatever." Max could feel a glimmer of reprieve from the migraine's furnace as the wet cloth did its job. Her muscles, rigid and tense from the pain in her skull, began to relax.

Alec left again and returned shortly with some Advil and a glass of water. Max had no idea where he'd come up with _painkillers_ – they weren't exactly the standard household essential with their sort…namely due to the fact that by the time a _transgenic_ required pain relief, it was usually on the level of morphine in double doses.

"Right – you, take _these_." Alec placed the box of Advil on the desk beside Max's bed after coercing her to swallow a couple, "And drink as much water as you can chug without bursting." The sound of a jug and glass being placed on the desktop seemed louder then usual.

"No getting up for any _thing_ or any _reason_. I'll send someone over to play nurse till I can check on you tomorrow morning."

"Well yes _sir_." Max groused indolently, inhaling deeply and shifting her hips to bring her knees into her chest once more. Her eyes were closed but she distinctly heard Alec snort at the term.

"Just cuz you're sick doesn't mean I won't kick your ass if you call me the again."

Sir, 494…apparently Alec had a fair slew of names he wasn't remotely comfortable with. Max would be sure to add that juicy detail to her leverage box for future use – 'future' being some time when her head didn't feel like the Earth's freaking core.

"Not that I won't kick your ass for actually managing to wear yourself down to the point that your _genetically-enhanced_ immune system couldn't fend off a _migraine_." Alec announced in a cheerful tone which really didn't make Max feel any less irked at what he'd said. Golden Boy was _so_ overstepping his boundaries – and taking advantage of the fact that Max was too sick to smack him upside the head for it.

"Shut up, Alec." It was all Max could get out, and she was aware her words were slurring together as the chronic exhaustion she'd been battling for a month now finally poked holes in her defenses. She felt the familiar warmth of her old, well-worn blanket envelop her (how Alec had managed to maneuver it out from under her, she had no freaking clue), and the last thing that reached her ears was the faint murmur of Alec's voice speaking into his phone before Max slipped into a fitful sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Been away on another volunteer-esque road trip to Wales. Spent my entire day off yesterday getting this typed up, so please forgive the massive gap between chapters and review for me anyway! Love to all!**_

_**-- Tyler**_

* * *

Rows of child soldiers standing at attention as far as the eyes could see, faces set in stone, swathed in gray.

Nameless chromosome flesh-sacks created solely for exploitation and anonymous tyranny. Close-cropped hair and even closer-cropped morals – designed to kill and not ask why.

_Duty. Mission. Discipline._ Words flashing in the strobelight of her subconscious. Zack, Krit, Syl, Tinga.

Ben.

Jondy, Brin, Jace.

_Ben. _

_We never should've left._

A bone snapping in her hands with all the resistance of a pencil.

Tears, hot and stinging on her face. The lingering warmth of her dead brother lying cradled in her lap.

_Everything made sense there. _

Green eyes glittering with terror, with pleading.

_Please, Max._

_Max…_

"Max!"

She stirred, eyes fluttering open before they winced shut at the light streaming in from the rattletrap shutters falling across her windows.

"You alright?" The voice was young and unfamiliar. Max shifted on her side and forced her eyes open once more to gaze at the X6 slumped in a chair beside her bed.

"Who are you?" Max blinked away the sleep filling her eyelids and propped herself up on her palms, feeling groggy from the evident length of her slumber.

"Friends call me Rait." The young girl had a peroxide-blonde crop with sloppy bangs shadowing bright eyes. She didn't look a day over eight. "Alec asked me to drop by and keep a look out for you till he comes back."

"You know where he went?" Max glanced around her apartment and was thankful to see everything as she had left it – well, minus a pile of empty chip packets and a fresh stack of dirty dishes in the sink. This Rait kid was a messy nurse, apparently.

"Nope. Just said he'd make it back as soon as he could." Rait tucked her bangs behind her ears and pushed out of the chair, "Well, I'm supposed to try and get you to eat, so – whaddya want?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." Max's head was no longer throbbing – in fact she felt a great deal better then her health had permitted over the last month or so. Ten hours of sleep probably did that for just about everybody, she figured.

Rait was smirking, Max noted – the grin bore an irritating resemblance to Alec's. "He said you'd say that, but I'm not supposed to take 'no' for an answer, so…"

"So _nothing_." Max repeated the word indomitably as she swung her legs over the edge of her bed and pushed back her blanket. Her black, zip-up sweater had been removed sometime in the night and the red crop top she was wearing clung to her body with a sticky film of sweat.

God, she wanted a shower. Oh wait – no hot water. No _clean_ water.

_Great. Fucking great. _

"Uh you're meant to stay in bed till Alec comes and checks on you." Rait sounded hesitant and was hovering behind Max as the X5 crouched down and pulled her suitcase out from underneath the bed.

"Oh yeah? According to who?" Max muttered in response as she pulled out a fresh change of clothing and slid the bag back to its resting place.

"According to _me_."

Max rolled her eyes and straightened to her full height, twisting to face Alec as he ambled into the apartment, hands tucked into his pockets and as stern a scowl as she had ever seen him wear pasted on his features.

Max smiled with a raise of her eyebrows as she clapped her hands against her thighs, "Well, as you can see, I'm out of bed and this whole freaky meltdown's blown over, so…"

"So you figure you'll just, you know…" Alec's nose scrunched up somewhat as he waved a hand, and Max found it highly abstract that she only then noticed Golden Boy had a smattering of muted freckles, "put your nose back to the grindstone and cross your fingers for the rest, is that it?"

"Pretty much sums it up, yeah." Max didn't really understand why Alec appeared to be so torqued about her momentary lapse in well-being. It wasn't like she'd asked him to shoulder her workload while she slept it off.

He was scoffing now, but the action was entirely humorless, "You're unbelievable."

"And you're overreacting." Max responded tartly, gripping the clothes in her fist tighter as she stalked to the bathroom door and pulled it open, "Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna change…" She flinched and her face hardened into dangerous stone as Alec's hand slammed the door shut and the two locked eyes (and horns).

"Uh so I'm gonna go now." Rait seemed keen on beating the scene before the thunderclaps crackling in the atmosphere gave way to a downpour, "See you guys later." She fiddled absently with the drawstring of her oversized hoodie as she inched towards the door.

"Call you later, huh?" Was all the response she got from Alec. Max was far too engrossed in glaring at her fellow X5 to make any sort of reply.

"Sure – if not I'm _dead_ from the toxic fumes comin' off of you guys." Rait mumbled under her breath as she fumbled with the door-handle and then uttered a loud obscenity as it clattered to the ground.

"Language." Alec snapped in her direction though his eyes remained glued acerbically to Max's.

Rait rolled her eyes. _Grown-ups. _"Sorry." She waved the door-handle at Max and placed it on counter before slipping through the threshold and tugging the door shut behind her.

"What the hell is your problem?" Max demanded the moment their audience had flown the coop.

"What's my…you wanna know what my _problem_ is?" Alec scoffed and seemed to find the accusatory remark highly amusing.

"Actually I'm already clued in," Max folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him scornfully, "But if there's a fresh batch, lemme know."

"My _problem_," Alec countered with an even sharper emphasis on the word then before as he arched his eyebrows at Max, "is that there's a pack of Ordinaries wearing bio-hazard suits doing a sniff-out of the area with an armed escort in tow."

"Yeah…" Max's fire waned slightly as she kicked herself for having been too out of it to pass on that juicy little detail, "you know, about that…"

"Matter of fact, I _didn't_ know 'about that'." Alec had a penchant for twisting her words back at her that Max had never cared for, "You know what else I didn't know about till it was too late? The fact that White pulled a raid this morning at Jam Pony and bagged all our workmates."

"You're not serious." Max felt the blood drain from her face and fought off the helpless guilt threatening to overwhelm her.

"I'm 'seriously' _pissed_ off." Alec offered, scrubbing at his honey-colored hair and looking more anxious then Max had seen him in a while, "Swung by Normal's last night and hassled him into accepting Sung's deal."

"So how come Matt's guys didn't come through?" Max queried, bewildered, as she gripped her biceps tighter and tried to get her muddled head around it all.

"No clue," Alec shook his head and frowned at the wall beside him, "Though I'm hoping it was down to White's timing as opposed to the other option."

Max nodded dismally, "Which is Normal backing off on his end." She sighed, "I'm gonna call Logan…"

"Already did that. Said he'd get in contact with Sung, find out what went down." Alec's lips pursed tightly for a moment and he glanced around before shuffling closer to Max, "Look, I was gonna ask if you could take a shift with the kid."

"You get anything out of him?" Max had momentarily forgotten one of the countless slew of issues they were attempting to juggle.

Alec snorted softly as he dug his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "Nope. Kid's still playin' innocent. What's more he's been bawling his eyes out non-stop since last night. I dunno _how_ he's even still awake – Mia 'n Tank are half-dead."

"I should get down there." Max concluded, unfolding her arms and running a hand through her tangled hair as her eyes flicked up to Alec, "He's gonna talk, Alec. It's just a matter of time."

"If you say so." Alec eyed her skeptically before continuing, "So what's the deal with these bio-hazard guys?"

"They're health inspectors." Max stalked by him and into the kitchen area, swiping two mugs from the counter as she went, "Logan called me right before I went all weak and helpless on you."

Alec bristled at Max's self-reproachful intonation but ignored it, "And? What're they after, I mean TC's already been cordoned off as a no-go zone."

"Yeah well that's actually the card they're playing." Max responded, filling a grimy-looking pot to the brim with water and clanging it onto the stove's single functioning burner, "Logan said they were running a sweep to get clearance for shutting down the whole sector."

"The whole sector?" Alec raised his eyebrows and Max's eyes met his in confirmation before he smiled acerbically, "Well this is peachy. You know why they'd want _that_ one passed."

"I'm going with air strike," Max agreed sullenly as she spooned instant coffee into the mugs, eyes trained on the counter, "though Logan thinks they might pull out all the big guns with this one."

"You mean a full-barrel siege." Alec stated and she nodded. He sighed and scraped a hand across the stubble lining his jaw, "Great. Okay – well at least we have an evacuation plan mapped out."

"We can't just skip town whenever White and his creepy breeding cult buddies say 'boo', Alec." Max set the pot of water down and caught his eyes with her own, "Wherever we make camp, they're always gonna find us. We have to take some kinda stand or they'll cross every line we draw."

"You know it's true that hindsight's twenty-twenty, but that aside," He raised his eyebrows at her, "maybe we should admit that pitching our tents smack in the middle of the war zone wasn't the brightest idea we've had."

Max was silent for a moment as she drummed her fingernails on the counter before responding, "Maybe it brings it home for all the people out there who read about the transgenic monsters out for their heads." She looked up at Alec and could read that he was digesting the words as she spoke them, "Most of us have friends, people who worked or lived alongside us right here in Seattle. And they know we're not so very different from everybody else."

* * *

"I'm gonna say this once – you don't sit yo' raggedy ass down, I will clock you one and haul you over." Original Cindy snapped with all the veracity of her feisty nature, fingers clenching the edge of the cold metal bench tightly and full lips pressed into a scowl.

"No, no." Sketchy breathed, sweat trickling down his forehead and sticking his hair to his skin as he paced rapidly to and fro, eyes and hands searching for a crack in the seamless, doorless holding cell, "There's gotta be a way outta here, right, or else there wouldn't be a way in."

"You've been prowling around for the past two hours, you idiot, now quit the pacing – it's driving me insane." Normal drawled unsympathetically from his position beside OC, "The small-minded creatures I employ…"

"Alright, does anyone remember how we got here?" Sketchy rushed into a skid, sliding onto the ground and eyeing his workmates frantically, his voice breathless and low, "I mean was it some kinda ceiling drop, uh star-trekkish beaming pad…"

"I have no idea, fool." Cindy retorted acidly, "We were unconscious when we got here. Remember comin' to on the cold, hard floor?" She eyed the room warily and unzipped the padded waistcoat she wore over her blue sweater, "Least their heating system beats Jam Pony's."

"I like to think my enactment of the friendly company phrase 'our doors are always open' breeds good clientele." Normal stated haughtily in his defense as he adjusted his glasses and glared at a small fracture in one of the lenses.

"Yeah – and frozen workers." Muttered one of the gangly young men who sported a bright red beanie and shirked away from Normal's disapproving eyebrow-raise.

"Least you'd all be _solid_." The Jam Pony boss lectured in his condescending manner, "Not a day goes by I don't have one o' you low-lives bailing on me for highly exaggerated reasons."

"Here it comes." Sketchy nudged OC with a knowing expression, and the woman rolled her eyes as Normal continued.

"Though of course the most negligent and unapologetically absent employee of the year award goes to Missy Miss hands down." Normal shifted in his seat and rubbed at his elbow subconsciously, "Hardly a day went by that Max wasn't later then a…"

"Before you start runnin' my girl into the ground, may I remind you that _she's_ gonna be the one to get us outta here?" OC raised an eyebrow contemptuously in her boss' direction, and he scoffed in response.

"Only thing _Max_ is gonna do about this little crisis is once again dodge the fallout from her actions." Normal unbuttoned the collar of his plaid shirt and slapped at a trickle of moisture on his neck, "Are they trying to roast us?"

"I read about this." Sketchy was all wide eyes and contagious anxiety as he gestured at the air, "It's some kinda slow-acting agent as a prelude to torture, you know, break down our defenses, make us sluggish, desperate…"

"Homicidal?" Cindy suggested before viciously smacking Sketchy upside the head, "Get a grip, Mister Conspiracy Theorist. Ain't none o' that _speculation_ crap gonna help us figure this bitch out."

"Well excuse me for being the only one with an actual _handle_ on the habits of malicious government agents." Sketchy rubbed the back of his head and scowled at Cindy, "May I remind you of the time I was tied to a chair and _beaten_ into denying the existence of transgenics…"

"Here we go _again_!" Cindy groaned and buried her face in her hands before turning to Normal, "Now you better not go tellin' me this is somehow Max 'n Alec's fault, cuz I _know_ that ain't the case."

"Indirectly, yes, they're both responsible." Normal replied flatly, ignoring her low-throated growl of irritation, "Pair of'em cruised around Seattle wreaking havoc and using Jam Pony sector passes to do it, now the rest of us are guilty by association."

Cindy eyed him sharply, "I'm guessin' you're _intentionally_ leaving out the part where Jam Pony's been in the limelight ever since."

"Not necessarily a plus, my Nubian associate." Normal removed his glasses and squinted at the damaged lens once more, "'Bad publicity is still publicity' may be some people's motto, but not mine. I prefer the 'no news is good news' line of thought."

Cindy actually blinked silently at the man for a good few seconds, her incredulity at the complete and utter lie from Normal overpowering her.

"Now I want everyone to know that I've spoken with a very influential detective who's agreed to grant us witness protection in exchange for a deeper dig into the hostage situation we underwent." Normal was seizing the window of opportunity to address his clan, it seemed, "So the important thing is that everyone remains calm and in control."

"Last position's already taken, apparently." One of the female workers mumbled to Sketchy, who smirked briefly before pasting on a somber face as Normal continued.

"No matter what happens, keep your mouths zipped. I don't want any o' you clowns jinxing our only shot at rescue here."

"I'm tellin' you, people," Cindy finally got her voice back and used it to ride to her friends' defense, "Max and Alec got this one, aiight? Ain't nothing to fret over."

A wide variety of mute responses to Cindy's statement of faith rode the expressions of her friends for a moment before Normal opened his mouth to boycott the effort at goodwill.

"Well _that's_ an interesting theory, and how exactly did you…"

The sudden hiss of machinery in action dubbed over the rest of Normal's sentence, and the gang of frazzled Jam Pony employees glanced up as a hairline circle the width of full-grown man jutted out of the metal.

Smoke streaked out, and the workers took hesitant steps to clear the field as the platform began to descend, rods and steel cables working with robotic joints to lower it to ground level. Cool air flooded the cell, and Cindy's face hardened as she felt Sketchy grab her arm and Ames White, backed up by a contingent of armed men, surveyed the team with malicious glee.

"Team Jam Pony," Ames cracked a smirk, "It's a pleasure."

* * *

The overcast sky was weeping snowflakes onto the decadent outskirts of Terminal City, working feverishly to cover the misdeeds of humanity as the health surveyors perused the area with ruthless intensity.

Alec's lips were pursed ever so slightly and his eyes were narrow slits as he stood beside Mole on the rafters of TC's walls. So far their sentries had been ignored by the surveyors – not even so much as a 'by your leave' had been solicited before the suited-up men and women had piled out of vans and dismissed the neighborhood watchdogs with barriers and sector cops.

"Dunno what they're hopin' to find." Mole muttered to Alec as he puffed at his token cigar, "Public already knows TC's a biohazard."

Alec shook his head slightly, his face set determinedly as his eyes scanned the crowd of inspectors, "They're not looking to _find_ anything." He turned to Mole, "They're looking to _plant_ something."

Mole's eyes narrowed, "Whaddya mean?"

Alec raised an eyebrow sardonically, "Like you said, the public already knows TC's not fit for human living. That's why it's sectioned off. What they need now is an excuse to clear the sector, and the biohazard threat's not gonna hold water."

"You think they're gonna let loose some kinda airborne infection?" Mole eyed the rampaging inspectors below him with a suddenly keener sense of hatred.

"Somethin' like that, yeah." Alec cast the offending crowd one more disdainful squint before patting Mole on the shoulder, "Keep an eye on'em, will ya?"

"You can count on it." Mole drawled as he tucked his rifle into the nook of his shoulder and planted a boot on the railing of the wall.

"No shooting." Alec added with a stab of his finger and a raise of his eyebrows as he headed down the stairs, and Mole rolled his eyes, "I mean it, Mole – not unless they shoot first."

"Well in that case I'll be _dead_." The lizard-like nomalie reminded Alec curtly, "So it's all good."

Alec forced out a laugh as he stalked down the stairs, shaking his head and keeping the farcical grin he'd been wearing all morning.

_It is __so__ not all good._

_

* * *

  
_

The faint sound of sobbing greeted Max as she entered Central's basement, and she felt her stomach churn at the thought of going head-to-head with Kid once again. Max entertained a secret fear that the X6 had been the cause of her sudden migraine attack and would be damned if she was left debilitated yet again.

"Finally." Mia's voice was full of genuine relief as Max descended into the room, casting a glance at the boy still tied to his chair. Kid's eyes were red and bloodshot from hours of crying, though his ardent wailing had reduced to subdued sniffles and the occasional hiccough. He wouldn't look Max in the eye as she scrutinized him from her position beside Mia.

"Any luck?" Max queried in a low voice, trying to stave off the pity she felt creeping into her veins at the clearly distressed child in the chair before her.

"None whatsoever." Tanker, looking haggard and completely worn out, appeared next to Max as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Unless you count calming him down."

"This whole thing is genuinely over his head, Max." Mia stated in a whisper, "He gave up protesting his innocence an hour ago, but that's about it. All I can tell you for sure is that those aren't crocodile tears – he's honestly afraid of something."

"Or some_one_." Tank muttered, rubbing at a knot in his neck muscle, "After the lecture _Alec_ sat him through I'm beginning to wonder if the damn kid's _ever_ gonna stop crying."

Max quirked an eyebrow at the X5 and he shrugged. She sighed – clearly he was in no mood to spill further details on the topic.

"Maybe we're goin' about this the wrong way." Max shuffled options in her mind for a moment before deciding on a course of action – a risky one, at that. But a long shot was still a shot, and those were something Central was running short on at the moment.

"I'm gonna untie him." Max informed Mia and Tank as she headed directly to Kid's side, brushing off the squawk of protest from Tanker as she crouched down in front of the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen – I'm gonna untie you, okay?" She stated in a soft tone as she worked to free Kid's hands and ankles, noting that he tensed rigidly as her hands met his skin, "But if you try anything, it's back to Square One, you got that?"

Kid nodded fervently and sniffed back a shuddering sob as Max freed his wrists and ankles from their bonds before moving to squat in front of him.

"I don't know what you want me to say." He whispered in a small, anguished voice, tears mixed with snot staining his splotchy red face.

"About what?" Max countered in the same gentle tone, reaching out and wiping at his cheeks with the hem of her biker glove.

Kid glanced around and then leant forward, his voice lowering to an almost imperceptible whisper.

"You have to promise not to tell."

"Tell what?" Max prodded, refusing to allow herself to be manipulated a second time. She'd often heard Alec state flatly that he never promised anybody anything if he could help it. Didn't mean he wouldn't come through – just meant he wasn't going to tie himself to that anchor should it sink with whatever deal had been made.

The concept seemed pretty sound to Max right about then.

Kid shifted in his seat and bit his lower lip for a moment before taking in a deep breath, "If he finds out I told you, he's gonna lock me in the room with no doors again."

"Who is?" The duo-syllabic question technique appeared to be a good approach with the shaken X6, Max thought.

Kid's eyes widened, puffy and red from hours of crying.

"The man." He whispered in a cracking voice, "He keeps lots of us down there, and he only lets us up to make us sit in the chair."

"The chair?"

"You remember." The boy eyed Max sharply and his voice lowered another notch, the next word spoken almost reverently, "In Psy-Ops."

Max remembered. Hell – how could she forget? How could any of them forget that fucking chair?

It was the scene of many a stolen memory, of rewritten pasts and painful reconstruction of presents.

"Kid," Max leant closer, reaching out and gripping his small hand in her own tightly, "If I showed you a picture of the man, could you tell me who he is?"

The boy's eyes flicked to the side in trepidation, "Maybe…"

"We're gonna protect you, alright?' Max assured him, "Nobody's going to hurt you anymore."

Kid's eyes welled up with tears once more and he shook his head furiously, "You don't understand. He'll get me – he has people everywhere!"

"I like to see him try and get you here." Max responded reassuringly, her thumb rubbing comforting circles in Kid's palm, "This is a place for people like us to be safe."

"But we're not safe." Kid began to sob once more, "He has people here too."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Horrideously late update, I'm aware....trying to fundraise for my move to a volunteer center in Vera Cruz, Mexico (it's not going very well). Anyway, managed to cough this baby out. So please review it for me and enjoy it!**_

_**-- Tyler**_

* * *

"You know, this is a hundred percent illegal." Normal ranted flatly from his position bound to a chair inside a darkened room, underneath the glare of a single spotlight flooding down on him. "Whatever illicit operation you got goin' on here's not gonna involve me or my staff. We're fully covered by our constitutional rights here."

"Is that so?" Ames White's smirk was bordering on a grimace as he paced slowly around the chair to which Normal was tied, hands clasped firmly at the small of his back, "Because I think you'll find, if you stop to ask yourself a simple question, you might want to rethink your stance."

"Really? And what question might that be?" Normal was less then fazed by the third-degree, apparently (likely he had developed immunity to intimidation due to the fact that he was a carrier of the airborne scourge).

"Where exactly is 'here'?" White raised an eyebrow and his smirk became crooked as he paused directly in front of Normal, "Take a look around, Mr Ronald." He waved a hand absently at the blackness surrounding them, "Do you see civil servants prepared to guard your 'constitutional rights'? You're on your own."

At these words, a band of well-muscled men and women stepped out of the shadows, falling into place behind White with feral gleams dancing in their eyes. Normal's mouth fell open ever so slightly as he recognized the faces of the sudden newcomers.

White's grin completely left his face and a menacing shadow shrouded his countenance as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "Remember them?"

"Uh, truth be told, we were never formally introduced." Normal stammered slightly, and his heart began to pound in his chest as the tall, red-headed leader of the pack stalked directly towards him. He heard a whooshing noise, a sickening crack, and microseconds later the stinging burn of pain was pouring from his broken nose and dripping onto his slacks.

"That was a 'hello'." The woman stated with a wry smile on her thin, painted lips before bending down and tickling Normal's ear with her breath, "And if you don't start talking fast, you and me are going to have a lengthy _conversation_ in the same language."

Normal felt nausea mounting an offensive in his gut at the throbbing of his nose and took deep, steady breaths to maintain his calm.

The lightbulb above him was buzzing, Normal noticed – the grainy sort of tune that ancient, burned-out bulbs hummed when they were coming to the end of their days.

"Mr. Ronald, meet Thula – Thula, Mr. Ronald." White swept a finger back and forth between the two of them, and Thula's smile widened.

"It's a pleasure."

"All yours." Normal muttered tightly, his gaze focused on the droplets of blood crusting on his beige-colored slacks. _Focus, Normal, focus – on anything but them, that is._

"Thula's team leader of the Phalanxes," White informed him as he waved the others forward, "You remember them, I'm sure. Hasn't been that long since they were storming your Podunk little joint and handing you your asses."

"Not the way I recall it goin'." Normal snapped with far more boldness then he felt as he raised his eyes to glare into White's.

Thula's hand clamped down on Normal's shoulder and the strength of her grip would have stunned the man had he not received a slug to the nose from the woman earlier on.

"Oh that's _exactly_ how it was going, Normal…" She paused, "I can call you 'Normal', right? Although," Thula was far too close for comfort as she stroked the back of his head with a mocking sort of tenderness, "you're about as _normal_ as the rest of those cronies who work under you."

"You're clearly a…great judge of character." Normal cringed and shirked away from her uncomfortably as easy breathing became a thing of the past, "Shame you managed to underestimate those _cronies_ working under me though, cuz uh…as I recall, _they_ were the ones handing _you_ your asses."

"452's a menace." White snapped, swiping out a hand to stop Thula in her tracks as the woman lunged forward to attack Normal once more.

"Right, congratulations, you just lost me there." The Ordinary furrowed his eyebrows, and White rolled his eyes.

"_Max_," He almost spat the name, "as she is now calling herself apparently, is little more then a number. Her barcode's last three digits…"

"452." Normal mused, "It's catchy." B_et she'd find it real aggravating if I called her that…_

"…are a representation of what she is." White's tone had thickened with added bite at the interruption, "She's a walking cocktail of DNA, my friend – believe me, she's less human then she is cat."

Normal eyed White sardonically, "Look – when it comes to laying that woman's faults down pat, you're preachin' to the choir here. But if you think I'm gonna let my personal revulsion for Missy Miss endanger the lives of thousands of other people, you've got another thing coming…" Normal's head snapped to the side as Thula's fists swiped across his jaw.

"This is no time for indulging your morals, Mr Ronald." White informed him caustically as he began to circle the man once more, "The safety of the nation is at stake. We're prepared to play dirty here."

"A shocking revelation." Normal spat copper-tasting fluid from his mouth and raised his eyebrows at White's form as it hunched to eye level of him.

"You think you're cute." The man smiled sardonically, "It's endearing in itself, I suppose."

"Yeah well hate to break it to you buddy, but I don't swing that way." Normal stated sourly before rustling up his courage once more, "Only thing you're gonna get outta me is more of my blood at this rate. I told ya once already, I'm not interested in _cooperating_ with your grand scheme for transgenic slaughter."

"Who's talking about slaughter?" White demanded with an innocent arch of his eyebrows.

"Oh I'm sorry…I may have gotten the wrong impression, what with your manifest _contempt_ for America's genetically-enhanced population 'n all." Normal snorted wryly and shifted in his seat in an attempt to avoid the blood dripping from his nose further sullying his trousers. Damn slacks cost him a good buck.

White's petulant sigh didn't bode well (not that the entire situation 'boded' anything but pain and possibly eventual death in Normal's mind), "Fine. We'll do this your way – you issue a statement," Here he reached into his suit jacket and produced a Dictaphone, "about the horrors you underwent, and I'll make sure your friends don't bite the dust."

"No deal." Normal responded in his matter-of-fact drawl, "_'My_ way' would involve you buggerin' off."

White's lips twisted, "Fine." He motioned to Thula and she grinned, disappearing from the room briefly only to return with Original Cindy in tow, thick ropes knotted around her wrists and a gag wrenching at the corners of her lips.

"One of yours, I believe." White seemed amused by the sudden drain of color from Normal's face as Thula shoved OC onto her knees and pressed a .45 against the side of her temple.

"Whoa, okay, let's all just take a deep breath and compose ourselves here!" Normal was clearly staving off panic as Thula flicked the safety off her gun and OC flinched visibly.

"Not as much fun when it's someone else's life on the line, is it now?" White mused belligerently, striding to stand beside OC and place a hand on her shoulder, "Maybe now you're beginning to understand the severity of the situation. I _want_ that _statement_." The last sentence was uttered forcefully, every syllable enunciated as darkness clouded White's features.

"You're not getting jack from me till every single one o' my workers is released into police custody." Normal raised his voice and followed it up with one of his infamous death glares.

The glare rolled off White's slick exterior like water off a duck's back – but the promise of cooperation on terms that were perfectly acceptable as far as he was concerned caused the Familiar to nod.

"Deal."

"There's a detective – Matt Sung, you know him?"

White's lip curled derisively. Of _course_ he fucking knew him.

"Sure do."

"Arrange for him to pick my team up and once they've flown the coop, you can have your goddamn precious _statement_." Normal's eyes were glued to OC, who was glancing from him to White with unbridled hatred for the latter flashing in her brown orbs.

White dipped his head in acquiescence, "Glad we've come to an understanding, Normal."

Normal's response was flat and insipid.

"Name's Reagan Ronald, sparky, now get a move on! Bip, bip, bip!"

* * *

"Right, dibs on Bad Cop."

Max cast Alec an amused face as he adjusted his leather jacket and ran a hand through his scruffy, honey-colored hair.

"Say what?"

He smirked briefly, "Nothin' – just lead the way."

Max narrowed her eyes at the flippant behavior before she turned her back on him and headed towards the open side gate of TC, heels clicking against the concrete.

"Now come on – and watch your back. These guys are slippery bastards." Max's warning caused his grin to widen and his head to shake briefly as the two X5s stalked to meet the health officials standing outside the gate of TC.

"Miss Guevara." The stout, stocky man clad in a bio-hazard suit nodded at Max before turning his gaze to Alec, "Mr McDowell. I assume you're aware of the purpose of our visit here."

"Aware, yes." Max raised her eyebrows with a dangerous smile as she spread her hands, "In agreement, though? Here's where wires cross."

"Terminal City's been tipped as a potential biohazard for its vicinity."

Alec swallowed a scoff and watched Max judiciously for some cue as she tightened her smile.

"I don't recall your name, Mr…?"

"Harville, Kevin Harville." He extended a gloved hand which Max shook with skepticism ringing on her features, "Health and Safety Officer."

"So what's the deal then?" Max queried, arms folding over her chest despite her best efforts at diplomacy, and Alec noted the subtle shift in body movement which requested his immediate backup, "You cordon off the sector, then what? Blow us up?"

Kevin snorted as Alec moved to stand beside Max, the X5 male's shoulder's squaring in a casual display of the raw prowess Manticore's offspring possessed.

"I'd say it's a little early in the negotiation stage for those sort of accusations, wouldn't you, Miss Guevara?"

"Oh I'm sorry, this is a negotiation?" Alec took his cue flawlessly, his eyebrows arching up sardonically as he made a point of glancing at the ongoing investigation around them, "Cuz uh, from the looks of things, you guys went ahead and got yourselves a _warrant_."

"_Alec_." Mac's reprove was as plastic as Alec's caustic aggression, and they both knew it too.

Good cop, bad cop. Max and Alec. Something about their genetic makeup seemed to tirelessly weave the threads of their separate lives into a synergetic tapestry neither of them really understood.

"Last I heard, we were due to meet with the Ministry of Defense to draft up a settlement." Max informed Harville, feeling a shiver run through her body and cursing the jacket which was failing miserably at staving off the winter wind, "Mind telling us what went down with that?"

Harville flashed a wan, diplomatic smile, "I don't know – that's not really my department, is it, Miss Guevara?"

"Neither is interfering in politics in that case, I assume." Alec interjected caustically, brushing the edged of his thumb across the tip of his nose and sniffing disdainfully at the Health official he was dwarfing.

"My field of concern is public safety, Mr McDowell." Harville stated, his face still sporting the same smarmy grin as he spoke.

"And preventing unnecessary conflict is ours." Max's eyes flicked to the group of inspectors ambling to and fro behind the man, "Shutting off the sector when so far there's been no evidence of contamination outside TC's gates could damage our negotiations for a truce with the government…"

"Well that's certainly regrettable." Harville's tone suggested it was nothing of the sort, and Alec's eyes roll full-circle.

"Yeah, and _avoidable_ – so let's just use our diplomatic glands _once_ in this issue, alright?"

Harville snorted, his breath puffing against the visor of his biohazard suit as he did so, "And what would you suggest we do, Mr McDowell? You want my people to pack up and hit the road?"

"Well you could stay for a beer, but I don't see a drinkin' hole in that uh…" Alec's eyebrows scrunched up as he waved a finger at the suit, "whaddya call it, McFly gear you're wearin'?"

Harville blinked, "Not tracking."

"Michael J Fox, Back to the Future?" Alec prodded, "You know, where he wears that freaky suit thingie and convinces his dad to ask Lorraine…" He deflated slightly at the stony expressions both Max and Harville were sending his way, "Talk about no cultural education. Fine then, never mind."

"The situation as it _stands_, Miss Guevara," Harville focused his attention on Max and made a point of ignoring Alec (which sat just fine with the X5 male), "is that I have instructions to run a scann of the perimeter and determine the toxin levels and their possible spreading capacity. Soon as we're done here, we'll clear on out."

"Great, except you're glossing over the fact that this could seriously hamper the transgenics' negotiating with the government." Max repeated herself with a raise of her eyebrows, and Harville, she noted, had the nerve to shrug obnoxiously.

"Let's hope the results are clean."

"And if they're not?" Max resisted the urge to smack the smug expression of triumph Harville was wearing right off his face and into the nearby gutter…she was playing Good Cop at the moment.

Max cast a sly glance at Alec from the corner of her eye in the hopes he wasn't warding off similar urges. Tragically, the man was wearing his poker face and it was wholly impossible to read.

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?" Harville twisted to look over his shoulder as one of his unit hollered for his assistance, "Right, if you'll excuse me."

"Oh _please_," Alec held up a hand with a farcical smile and eyebrow-raise, "Get right _on_ with facilitating America's next Civil War…" He coughed as Max jabbed him viciously in the ribs, effectively silencing the rest of his statement.

"We'll be in touch." Max called after Harville, who was already traipsing away from the pair, before she turned and cast Alec the most acerbic glare she had in stock.

"Warmonger."

"Lick-ass."

Both X5s rolled their eyes at the other as they turned and headed back inside TC's walls.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The question threw Max completely off-skelter, and she frowned at Alec as the gate clamped shut behind them.

"Yeah, why?"

He was eyeing Max with a scrutiny she found unnerving, "I dunno. What's goin' on with that rune thing – still hangin' around?"

"If by 'hanging around' you mean are they still there, then…" Max hiked up her sleeves and raised her wrist with a sardonic smile, "yeah."

"Wait a second," Alec reached out and gripped her hand in his, turning it palm-upwards and brushing his fingers across a spinal cord of lettering near Max's elbow, "These are new."

Max felt the warmth of Alec's fingers on her bare skin and wondered absently when the last time she'd had her hand touched without the protective leather of a biker glove had been.

"Are they?" Max squinted at the fresh runes cluttering her forearm, "Huh. Wonder what Sandeman's on about this time."

Alec's grunt of agreement was distracted as he studied her arm briefly before releasing it, "Any luck with getting it translated?"

Max's eyes swept the ground as they headed into Central, "Logan was workin' on some stuff. Think he found a lead on some ancient language that could be a mutated spin-off."

"Great." Alec dug his hands into the pockets of his jacket and scuffed his boots across the dusty flooring leading to the staircase, "Sooner we find out what White's got going on here, the better."

"Yeah well, right now we got bigger fish to fry." Max sighed, tucking a strand of thick brown hair behind her ear and resting a hand on the banister of the basement staircase as she turned to lock eyes with Alec, "Did you get in touch with Sung's guys yet?"

Alec nodded grimly, "Apparently White's set up a meet to hand over the Jam Pony gang at an old pier outside Sector Two."

"Normal must've dealt." Max rubbed at her face and flicked a grey speck of sleep from her eye, and Alec's shoulders lifted briefly.

"Maybe. Least they're safe though," He scratched at the back of his neck and glanced at the busy transgenics thronging about them, "We can take of ourselves, Max."

"I know." She dipped her head forlornly, "I just wish we could take care of them as well."

"Max?" Tanker's voice sounded at the bottom of the steps, "Alec? You guys up there?"

"Kid talked." Max informed Alec as they headed down the stairs, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah? So what'd he say?"

"White's got a whole stock of Psy-Ops, X-series merger kids holed up somewhere. He's using Manticore technology to brainwash them, turns'em into good lil' spies and then plants them here." Max nodded at Tanker, who looked indeterminably exhausted and was swinging his legs from his perch on a desk, a beer clutched in his hands.

"How'd it go?"

"Well, the _good_ news is…" Alec paused and scrunched his lips momentarily before shrugging, "Actually there _isn't_ any good news, but the _bad_ news is they're goin' ahead with the sweep."

"Peachy." Tank grumbled as he took a gulp of his beer.

"Where's the kid?" Max queried, noting that Mia was apparently absent in the stale-aired basement, and Kid's chair was empty.

"With Mia, asleep." Tank ground the bottom of his palms into bleary eyes before glancing at Alec and Max, "All that cryin' finally did him in, apparently."

"'Bout freaking time." Alec stalked behind the desk and pulled open the filthy, buzzing refrigerator, "Least he actually said somethin' _useful_ before he hit the sack."

"What exactly did you say to him?" Max demanded as Alec leant into the fridge and produced two dilapidated beer bottles.

"Whaddya mean, what did I say to him?"

"This _lecture_ I'm hearing about, he was freaked out of his mind." Max snapped as Alec straightened and tossed her a wry raise of his eyebrows.

"Nothin' – just told him what was what." Alec didn't seem to think it had any bearing on the situation as he popped the lid off his beer and took a swig, "By the way, did uh anybody call for me while I was gone?"

"You mean during your three-day hiatus?" Tank slipped onto his feet and threw Alec a disapproving frown before putting the bottle to his lips briefly, "I dunno, man, ask the techies. What am I, your PA?"

"Hey, what's with the attitude?" Alec snapped, his voice streamlining into a hardened tone so fast it made Max's head spin and Tanker's adrenalin boil.

"_Attitude_? What am I, twelve?"

"'What am I, your PA, what am I, twelve' – you havin' some kinda identity crisis?" Alec slammed down his bottle at the precise moment Tank did likewise.

"You havin' some kinda _breakdown_?" The bulkier X5 demanded with a seething scowl, "Cuz you're trippin' all over the place, man."

"Hey, _guys_!" Max's voice cut stridently through the static as she picked up both of their beers and shoved them into the men's chests, "Chill out."

There was a sturdy silence as the X5s exchanged stony glares before both gripped their beers and took a swig in unison. Max rolled her eyes.

"God, you're pack of children." She shoved past Alec's shoulder and back up the steps.

"Max, get your ass back down here!" Tanker called up after her, his voice echoing insistently up the steps as she pointedly ignored him, "We gotta lot of ground to cover on this health inspector crisis before Mole decides to come in swinging!"

"Hey leave her alone, man, okay?" Alec's low-throated rumble followed Max as she paused to inhale deeply at the head of the stairs, "She's got a lot to deal with right now…"

"Yeah well ignoring everything doesn't make it go away, Alec." Tank was huffing, but his voice was blurring and becoming imperceptible to Max. She felt a sharp pain in her cranium and barely swung out a hand to steady herself on the railing before a tremor ran through her body.

_Fuck_.

"I get times are rough," Tank was fading now, sounding decidedly far away (and possibly even underwater), "I do, but we all just gotta buckle down now."

"Don't gimme that crap."

"Alec…" Max tried to get the word out, but it caught in her throat like a nasty fish hook. The shaking was stronger now, and try as she might to regain control of herself, Max realized that she was standing at the threshold of a full-blown seizure.

"Max's done more then her fair share for the day considering the fact that she's _sick_…"

"Alec…" Max heard it leave her mouth in a painfully weak rasp as she slid to her knees against the banister, every muscle in her body beginning to seize up as she shook with a violence that was both foreign and terrifying.

This one was new…this one was _bad_.

Her vision blurred, pain pulsed through her brain in throbbing waves, and her entire body convulsed as Max tipped on her side and struggled to pull her knees to her chest.

"It's okay." The voice was young but not frightened, and Max squinted through the maze of colors clouding her eyes at the small figure crouching beside her, "It's gonna be okay, Max."

"Tryptophan.." Max ground out between teeth clenched together feverishly, sweat soaking her hairline and the collar of her shirt as her eyes began to roll up into her head.

"Max? _Max_!" This voice was different – it wasn't young but it was _frightened._

"Hey, hey, hey…" Hands gripped her, lifted her from the floor and held her gyrating frame tightly against a warm, familiar-smelling body, "You're gonna be alright, you hear me? I gotcha."

_I don't __need__ you, you stupid idiot_. Max wanted to scream as she became distinctly aware that Alec had just scooped her into his arms and was carrying her somewhere, an anxious Tanker at his heels, _I just need some fucking Tryptophan..._

_I think._


	7. Chapter 7

_**I have no excuse.** I** know it's been a completely intolerable hiatus**. **BUT**...(and I'll say this really quickly) mysisterisvisitingfromItalyandthusthedemandonmytimetoplayhostesshasresultedintheviledelayofthischapter....***takes breath***...._

_**My apologies to you all**. Accept this humble token of apology...and **tell my muse it's grounded! :P (after you review, naturally)**..._

_**-- Tyler**_

* * *

Alec sat across from Max, tapping the bottle of Tryptophan against the cold metallic fold-out table the woman had adorning her kitchen.

"I already told you, Alec, I'm fine…"

"Would you drink up?" He motioned with a blank expression towards the tall glass of milk sitting untouched in front of her.

Max scrunched up her face, "I really don't wanna know where you scored this stuff." She eyed the somewhat lumpy liquid dubiously.

"Milked a cow." Alec replied ruthlessly, and she grimaced at him in response before chugging back a large gulp.

"Happy?"

"No." He stated tersely, slamming the bottle of pills down and folding his arms over the table as he leant forward to glare at Max, "Not really."

Max rolled her eyes, "Look, it's not like I had any idea my seizures were gonna start up again. They told me they'd fixed that last time I was at Manticore…"

"Yeah and _you_ told _me_ you were 'fine'." Alec's voice rose to a whiny pitch as he parroted Max's staple, multi-purpose word.

"I was!" Max insisted, slapping at the table for emphasis as she leant forward to meet Alec's scowl with her own, "…_Am_…I dunno."

"You been havin' any more of these?" Alec demanded with a raise of his eyebrows which suggested he would _really_ prefer it if she didn't lie to him.

Max didn't need to.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no."

"You can tell me it's not my business when I have to liquidate another favor owed to score you more of this shit." Alec waved the Tryptophan at his compadre judiciously and Max grudgingly bit back the rest of her token 'stay out of my life' spiel.

"This wasn't a normal seizure, Alec." She pushed off from the table and strode slowly to the filthy kitchen window overlooking an abandoned parking lot.

"You're telling me." He agreed as he twirled the bottle back and forth against the table's surface and kept his eyes on Max's back. Her shoulders were clenched tightly together and her stance was rigid, creating small, shadowed hollows in the skin exposed by her tank top.

Max was scared. He could sense it.

"It was worse then anything I've ever had before." Max finally admitted in a quiet voice she was perfectly confident Alec could hear from across the room as she hugged herself and watched the pre-dawn rain batter her windowpane, "To be honest, I don't even know if it had anything to do with a lack of Tryptophan."

"What do you mean?"

Max could picture Alec's expression – it would match the cautious, slightly confused tone in his voice perfectly. Narrowed eyebrows, eyes half-lidded in a tentative squint, lips pursed and ever so slightly open.

Alec was scared. Max could sense it.

"I don't know." She sighed, raising her eyebrows at the floor briefly before bunching her hair over her shoulder and turning around, "One thing's for sure though…"

"If you say 'we don't have time for this'…" Alec's glare returned, the glint in his green eyes changing from a dull gleam to a floodlight.

"Look, I'll get a check-up, okay?" Max conceded as she pulled on her biker gloves and checked her pager, "I promise, just not right now. We're about to get our asses nuked off the map in case you hadn't noticed."

"Whatever." Alec scoffed as he rose to his feet, jaw set stonily, and Max was tempted to demand what exactly he was still being bitchy about. She'd given him more ground in the stand-off then she'd given anybody in a good long while.

"Logan called for you about an hour or two ago." Alec stated before Max had even scrolled down her missed calls on the pager in her hand as he held out his cell phone with one eyebrow raised, "You left your phone in the basement back at Central."

"Thanks." Max hit the speed dial and held the phone to her ear while glancing at Alec, "Any updates on the sniffers?"

"They left." Alec stated tersely, pilfering a bag of Doritos from a cupboard which Max was sure had been empty last time she laid eyes on it, "At four in the morning. Naturally they didn't say goodbye either."

"I'm hurt." Max muttered disconsolately as the buzz of Logan's line grated in her ears. It wasn't long before his voice – strong yet lacking its usual caliber – sounded down the receiver.

"Alec…I got that information you wanted."

"It's me." Max stated, wincing at the moment of awkward silence that followed.

"Oh…Max. How are you? Alec mentioned something happened…"

"I'm fine." She reassured him with a glare for her tattling fellow X5 as he munched on his chips, "Just haven't been getting much sleep."

"Since when is that new for you?" Logan sounded irked, and Max wished cell phones transmitted automatic visuals so she could roll her eyes at him.

"It's not. Like I said, I'm fine. So what's the deal?"

"Pulled up a lead on those runes." The sound of fingers hitting keys clacked in the background, "One of my contacts who works in genetics says his cousin was involved with White a couple years back. How deep the ties go he wouldn't say, but I did some digging, and it turns out this guy was a full-fledged member of the Conclave for fifteen years till he ducked their radar inexplicably. No one's been able to find him since."

"Peachy." Max responded, before a wry question broke surface, "Lemme guess – you got a pinpoint?"

"Actually, the S1-W landed some scoop." Logan stated, and Max fought the inexplicable tremor in her solar plexus at the mental image of Asha cropping up in her head. She'd been getting that a lot recently – it was unnerving. Max wasn't jealous. She _wasn't_.

"Turns out Reese Molko now streams a live feed to underground conspiracy-theorist groups." Logan somehow made the less-rounded version of his own line of work sound as though the two weren't even in the same ZIP code, "He's got a lot of blockades up but I managed to trace his IP."

"Don't tell me," Max squinted and waved Alec's hand away as he offered her the bag of Doritos, "Canada."

"Surprisingly enough, New York."

Max raised her eyebrows, "_Someone's_ got a cushy bomb shelter."

"Or a lot of nerve." Logan added in hindsight, "I'd set up a meeting with the guy, but from what I hear, he's a paranoid genius. Best if you and Alec go and gatecrash."

'_You and Alec'. Why is everyone pairing us together these days? _Max huffed inwardly, _Oh yeah – it's cuz we're allegedly an item. Part and freaking parcel, I guess. _

"'Case you hadn't noticed, we're kinda tied up here at the moment." Max's voice grew colder as she mused over their current litany of predicaments, "TC can afford to lose _one_ of us but not _both_."

"You guys don't have _underlings_ to hold fort while you make time for this?' Logan's sarcasm was rare in surfacing, but more or less bone dry when it finally chose to do so, "Cuz it's _important_, Max. Could be the whole key to unraveling this thing."

"Maybe another time," Max stated shortly, "You know, like when they're not about to blast us into the next century…or _out_ of it, as the case may be…"

"You know something?" The cyber hero's tone grew low and developed a slight hiss as he responded, "I don't know when you got this reckless with your life, Max, but if you don't start realizing that you're most likely the key to the future of the world…"

"What?" Max demanded acidly, "I'll trigger _Armageddon_? I doubt that, Logan."

"Yeah, which is sort of the root of the problem at the moment." He replied flatly, and Max ground her jaw together to bite back a string of vicious retorts to the statement. Alec was looking at her intently, eyes full of scrutiny. She couldn't afford to slip on this one.

"Call you later." Max forced thick syrup into the words before terminating the conversation with a flick of her thumb.

She raised her eyebrows at Alec while fumbling into her jacket, "Let's go."

He shrugged, tossing the empty chip packet into Max's overflowing trash can before heading out after her.

Max didn't catch the sly smirk and brief shake of Alec's head as he shut the door behind them.

* * *

The trip to Central was brief and awkward. Max was still weak and a little shaky on her feet from the after-effects of the seizure (the Tryptophan Alec had given her didn't appear to be working its usual wonders). Still though, however genuinely disturbed she was by the notion, Max kept up a stalwart display of health, throwing in a slight swagger to her usual brisk stride (more to convince herself then Alec, who, even though his eyes were plastered causally to the space in front of him, seemed to be wearing a knowing smirk).

Max was surprised to see that the usual beehive of activity that Central had become was apparently stifled. Only the core team (or the transgenic hierarchy, as the government was calling it) were present.

Dix and Luke were holed up behind computer screens, clacking furiously and muttering in hushed voices as they did so.

Mole and Joshua were in the process of cleaning several of the rifles in stock, exchanging sharp looks and the occasional loaded phrase. Those two spoke their own freaking language, Max had come to ascertain.

Tanker and Mia were cross-legged on the floor, conversing in low tones and both wearing sober expressions. Kid was curled up on a pile of blankets next to one of the tables, his eyelids droopy and face flushed, taking in the scene around him through the haze of semi-sleep.

"What's up?" Max greeted Joshua, who was the first to notice her and Alec's presence as he stood up from his chair.

"Lil' Fella not doin' so hot?" He eyed her warily, concern and weariness vying for center stage in his voice. Max blew him off with a wave of her hand and a reassuring smile,

"I'm fine. Just needed some Tryptophan. So what've I missed?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly at the gang surrounding her as they each simultaneously turned their gaze toward her.

"Well, your boss' statement's gone live, for one thing." Luke called out from his elevated position as he swiveled in his chair and poked a thumb at his computer screen, "Been the headline of every news channel I've come across since its release this morning."

"Well that's just fucking great." Alec sighed and carded a hand through his hair. Max eyed him skeptically.

"You didn't know about this?"

"He's been at yours all night." Luke informed her briefly before turning back to his computer, "Rest of us have been manning the fort since your seizure, but I gotta say it's been a craphole of a morning."

Max sighed heavily as she placed her palms on the table behind her and pushed into a sitting position, "We need to issue a retaliatory statement as soon as we can cough one up."

"Do we?" Alec queried with a raise of his eyebrows from his position beside Mole as he absently dismantled one of the guns, "People don't wanna hear the other side with cases like these, Maxie. Their minds are made up for'em."

"We have to try." She responded as she met his eyes with her own and held them, "Normal was blackmailed into making that statement and if we go talk with the Jam Pony guys, I'm sure at least one of them can prove it."

"White's not stupid, Max. He'll have tagged on a major threat for breach of silence before he let anybody go…"

"I know that." Max interrupted Alec's flow of words determinedly, "All the same, we have to try."

"Not that this is any of my business," Mia's voice piped up as the woman rose from the floor and flashed Max and Alec an expression of true concern, "But…Kid says White is holding other transgenic children somewhere. If you're planning on rescuing them, it might not be the best idea to attack White from this angle right now."

"Actually it's the _perfect_ idea." Alec responded staunchly as he fully dismantled the large rifle he'd been disassembling with a quick flick of his wrist, "White's not tight with every faction of the government – there's a swelling majority of senators in favor of transgenic legislation who would pull every trick up their sleeve to get him off our backs if we could dish out some solid dirt on the man."

"If we were to find those kids and combine that evidence with the Jam Pony team's kidnapping," Max nodded to herself as she followed Alec's train of thought to its inevitable conclusion, "we'd take him down."

"M'not gonna tell."

All adult faces trained their gazes on the huddled child in the corner as he shuffled into a sitting position against the wall and crossed his arms defiantly.

"Tell what?" Max queried, standing once again and making her way cautiously to the young boy's side as he sniffled and dragged his sleeve across his nose while glaring at her insolently.

"Where he keeps us." Kid rubbed the sleep from his eyes, clearly shaking all drowsiness from himself, "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into."

Max restrained a smile at that one as she crouched down beside him, "Trust me, you don't need to worry about us."

"It's not you I'm worried about!" Kid snapped, "Even if you find where he's hiding them, you'll only make it worse!"

"Try to explain it for me." Max attempted to coax, but her patience was running dry – she could feel it. They had so little time before everything around them exploded in a supernova of catastrophe, and every waking moment was of the essence. If Kid wasn't going to volunteer any further information on White's latest attempt at infiltrating their ranks, that would leave yet another transparent dagger hanging over their heads.

Which they _so_ didn't have time for.

"Why? It won't change anything." Kid huffed as his jaw began tighten in clenched refusal, "You guys're gonna get blown up anyway."

"It's rude to eavesdrop." Tank informed the boy curtly from across the room, not caring at all for the snide insinuation that TC's destruction was inevitable.

"Then butt out." Kid retorted crisply prompting Max to roll her eyes and grip one of his small, rounded shoulders in her palm.

"Look," Max heard the crack of a whip in her tone and almost regretted it as she spoke, "if you wanna just…"

"Mole!"

The young voice carried quickly through Central's upper floor as none other then Dalton, bleach blonde hair running amuck atop his head and almond-shaped eyes wide with alarm, careened into the building.

"Easy, kid, you'll bust a lung with all that puffing!" Mole chided wryly as he placed his rifle down and edged around the table just as Dalton skidded to a halt, "What's the deal?"

"You guys gotta come to the main gate." Dalton appeared unusually out of breath for a hale young transgenic as he rested a hand on his knee while several of the room's occupants cast him glances of concern, "Somethin' major's goin' on."

"What do you mean?" Max and Alec in unison before purposefully avoiding each other's eyes at the uncomfortable occurrence.

Dalton shook his head, holding up a finger briefly and inhaling several times before he forced out the words, "They're evacuating the sector."

Max felt her spine tingle with a bizarre sensation at the words, and as she digested them the world suddenly seemed to freeze around her in a haze of solidarity. Voices muted and clarity faded – the consciousness left to Max became the overwhelming knowledge that something compellingly dreadful was about to happen.

An overhead whirring met her ears, followed by a puff of noxious-smelling smoke, and then – as suddenly as it had left it – reality returned in full swing. The room and all its occupants remained intact…although severely pissed off.

"Well that can't be good." Mole turned to Tanker and Alec, "They didn't even issue a warning or anythin'!"

"What, and give us time to _prepare_ for the attack?" Tank scoffed morbidly, "Now why would they do _that_?"

"Clear the building."

"What?" Alec raised his eyebrows at her and Max's veered sharply downwards in response.

"They're gonna gas it somehow, GO!" She didn't leave room for argument as she gripped Kid and Dalton by the collars and hauled them alongside her towards the back exit door, "Everyone beat it, now!"

"What the hell, man!" Tank barked at Alec, looking around in complete confusion, "They've only just started the evacuation, like _hell_ they'd strike already!"

"I'm not arguing with'er." Alec waved his hands with the resigned air of one who had attempted and failed at a task one too many times, "Just clear the building and make her happy. _Sometimes_ she's right."

"Ugh." Tanker growled in flagrant opposition but acknowledged the futility of resistance by grabbing Mia's hand and tugging her towards the exit door just as Joshua, Dix and Luke shoved through it all at once, "Come on then."

"I'm tellin' you, Alec, the woman's finally cracked." Mole informed his X5 compadre judiciously as he stubbornly propped a boot up on the counter and refused to budge an inch.

"Yeah well, you just stick around and prove her wrong then, will ya?' Alec patted the nomalie on the shoulder before tossing him a wry grin and ducking through the exit door.

Mole shook his head in complete disbelief as he watched Alec disappear through the doorway, "Bunch o' whipped dogs." He scoffed and wiped at the muzzle of his rifle, when the sudden tinkling of metal hitting metal caught his ears.

Mole narrowed his brow and turned toward the sound, gun cocking as he whirled only to watch the small, circular object roll to a compliant halt as it struck against his boot.

"Shit." Mole didn't need to glance twice at the gas grenade to make a beeline for the door as a smattering of the deadly objects hailed through Central's air vents. The lizard-like transgenic barely managed to tear through the exit door and slam it shut behind him when the dramatic snaps of the bombs exploding filled the entire Central building with a noxious cloud of smoke.

Alec glanced sideways at Max from the safety of their retreat – a broken-down Mustang sitting rusted and totaled a good few feet away from the building.

"Don't ask _me_." Max warned him, rising to a crouch as wisps of acidic smoke coiled from the open windows of Central, "I haven't got a clue in hell."

"They were in the vents." Mole knelt down beside the rest of the gang huddled behind the car as he eyed the building critically, "Means one thing."

"You think they managed to get somebody inside that quickly?" Mia sounded skeptical, though marginally frightened by the concept, and Max barely had a moment to intercept Alec's hand before it swung it and gripped Kid's upper arm tightly.

"Alec!" Max tried, but he yanked his arm out of her grasp as he stood up and hauled a truly mortified Kid to his feet along with him.

"Right, _you_," Alec stated flatly, "and I are gonna have a little chat about the other _people_ White's got in here."

"But it wasn't…I…I mean I don't…" Kid stammered, glancing to Max and Mia for support under the condemning glares of Tank and Mole.

"Enough bullshit, okay?" Alec snapped as he shook the boy a little, "People are gonna die, innocent people, hell, _your_ people – unless you tell us what you know. Now SPILL!"

"He said he wasn't gonna hurt anybody!" Kid insisted through fresh tears welling up in his large eyes, "They were just a recon team!"

"Who?" Alec persisted, and Max fought the urge to wrench him away from the lad on grounds that apparent progress was finally being made.

"They're just X6s." Kid whispered as tears began to slide down his pale cheeks and he gazed up at Alec mournfully, "We were a unit. They were experimenting a crossbreed between the X series and the Psy- Opsers. Trained f…for combat and the paranormal at the same time."

"In Manticore?"

"Yes, sir." Kid sniffed and glanced at his tattered boots, shuffling from one foot to the other as he muttered the rest of his sentence, "and after…we were the only ones who got caught as a division. Stupid for sticking together, I guess."

"How many of you are there?" Max stepped forward cautiously, hesitant to infringe upon what was clearly Alec's territory at that precise moment – though he didn't seem to mind (and did the same thing to her frequently).

"Six." The boy blew out the word, "Four of us boys and two girls. They split us up, told us our mission was to infiltrate Terminal City. Most of us've been inside for a couple of weeks, taking out powerlines, jinxing ammo set-ups…" Here he cringed visibly and attempted to scoot away from Alec as the man let out a huff of indignation, "My call was divide and conquer. I was supposed to keep you guys distracted till the others got a chance to plant those gas bombs."

"This is unbelievable." Tanker laughed bitterly as he scraped a hand through his hair and shook his head at the toxic fumes still emanating from the Central building.

"I don't get it." Mole chewed at the stub of his cigar, turning to Alec, "Why just go after Central? Why not take the whole of it down in an air strike?"

"Oh they're _going_ to." Alec nodded with a smile that was less then promising, "After they've taken out the head gang and left TC without a control base."

"Makes sense to me." Mia shrugged morosely before turning her dewy eyes to Kid, "What I _don't_ understand is those were _Anthrax_ bombs. If you knew they were gonna blow, why didn't you make a run for it?"

"They were _supposed_ to be Ether." Kid was trembling now, Alec noted, and he subsequently eased up his grip on the boy's shoulders, "I…I didn't know they were gonna…" Here he trailed off into a stunned, heartbroken silence which, though it didn't turn the tide in his favor, sufficiently convinced the group he'd had enough for the moment.

Almost.

"Any other surprises we should know about?" Tanker queried turgidly, "You know, like Sarin canisters or uh genetically-targeted landmines?"

"No." Kid mumbled before turning away and bowing his head of filthy hair, "That's all I know."

"Well this is great." Alec sighed heavily and cast Max a weary glance of helplessness she couldn't prevent herself from mirroring.

They were _royally_ fucked.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Yay!! Tyler finally updated....*throws tomato at muse* BAD MUSE...well I actually can't blame dear Albatross (yes, the muse has a name - it's flighty, you see :D). It's just the perils of life...busyness overtakes the cleanest of intentions. Except when it comes to reviewing - because reviews are an unstoppable motivation ;). **_

_**-- Tyler  
**_

* * *

Sleep evaded Max that night. She'd worked her fingers to the bone trying to hash out exact and flawless strategies with the rest of the team at Central until Joshua had piped up with concern that it was past midnight.

Max had glared at him until the canine nomalie was thoroughly cowed, but (rotten as her luck was now standing) Alec had swiftly taken over from that point, insisting that Max hit the sack and that the rest of planning could wait a few hours.

_Doesn't that idiot understand that I don't sleep? _Max seethed inwardly as she hiked the stairs to her apartment as though a thousand weights were dangling from each ankle. _I mean it's like he __enjoys__ being a domineering asshole. _

A small part of Max's mind wondered if Alec was using his significantly more protected situation to give her a good boot up the pants for the year's worth of attitude Max had lavished upon her fellow X5.

But she doubted it…which gave way to the slightly more tremulous possibility that Alec's dramatic increase in concern heralded something else…

Something that sent a tight whip of flutters snapping through Max's abdomen and prevented her from catching up on the sleep Alec was apparently so dogmatic that she needed.

The red-orange glow of the sky from Max's window was less then promising as she eagerly swung her legs out of bed.

Her heart nearly leapt into her throat as she caught sight of a tall, well-built leaning against the edge of her kitchen counter.

"Who the hell are you?" Max demanded, feed hitting the floor with a thud as her fists balled by her sides. The intruder raised his hands in surprise.

"Max, it's me!"

Max blinked and took a step backwards, squinting as she finally took in the sight of Alec looking genuinely disturbed by her failure to recognize him.

"Ugh!" She growled, eager to gloss over the lapse in her vision as she slammed her shoulder against his while storming past, "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" He queried in a bewildered tone, and Max winced as she yanked the door to her bathroom open and felt a tremor course through her body.

"Come into my apartment without knocking first!" She yelled as she slammed the door shut loudly behind her and locked it with shaking fingers. The shaking was starting again – and this time Max was ready for it. She quickly unscrewed the cap on her pills capsule and swallowed a handful of the Trytophan supplements.

It would blow over.

A burning pain began to bubble in her veins, and Max clamped her jaw shut as her legs gave out under her and she hit her tailbone against the bathtub soundly.

Okay, so it wasn't blowing over – but at least nobody had to see it this time around.

"Look I'm sorry I startled you, alright?" Alec's voice, flippant and unbothered, echoed through the door as Max hugged her knees to her chest and grit her teeth for all she was worth, "I just came by to pick up some stuff of Rait's she left here. I'll be out of your way in a second."

"Whatever!" Max ground out, forcing a snide edge into the word as her vision began to blur further. She managed to scoot away from the bathtub in an effort to prevent the sound of her backbone slamming repeatedly against it from reaching Alec's uber-sensitive ears. The fit was coming on strong now.

Max could hear Alec's muffled cursing as he rifled through her front room in search of his objective – something about rodents and bad piping and all the other complaints the man frequently voiced about Max's housing situation. She really didn't give a crap if her hen pad wasn't up to snuff with his own. Boy could shove it as far as Max was concerned.

God, how did the burning not blister her insides?

"Hey, are you ever gonna use this steak I got you? Cuz it's already like a week past its sell-by date and I don't want somethin' this fine going to your little _rat_ friends." Alec queried breezily, and Max's shoulders shuddered violently as her throat seized up and she found herself unable to respond.

"Max?"

_Go away. _Max desperately tried to force out the words, but they came out as a low warble, _Please go away. _

A light rapping of knuckles on her door was the first warning sign, and Max would've circled her eyes had they not already been rolled up into her head.

"Hey – you okay in there?"

Max clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms and drew blood, fighting off the frustration that being completely helpless tended to bring on. She couldn't utter a sound that wouldn't give credence to that fact she was majorly seizing up.

_Damn it!_

Alec was quiet for a long moment, and Max knew better then to hope he'd gone to bother someone else. Oh no, Knowing Alec, he was merely listening – his keen hearing attuned to anything that might give him an excuse to get the door open and rush to Max's aid.

_Great – last thing I need is another knight in bullet-proof armor._ Max attempted to keep at least her _thoughts_ in check as her body completely rebelled against all control and began to shake violently, nearly tossing Max across the tiled floor, _Why doesn't he just __go__away__?_

Max heard Alec sigh heavily and then mutter something to the effect of "God, not this shit again." She felt her anger coil to strike even in her incapacitated state – how fucking _dare_ he act like this was inconveniencing _him_?

Sure enough, the stubby oval lock twisted slowly and then clicked compliantly. For all the careful precision Alec had exercised in picking Max's lock, he certainly threw caution to the wind the moment he saw her seizing up on the bathroom floor.

"Oh god…" Alec murmured as he dropped to one knee, hands hovering anxiously over his fallen friend as though he was afraid to touch her and aggravate the seizure, "Okay…uh, just… hang on, Maxie, alright?"

_Not like I can up and leave, is it? _Max thought snidely, but the pain was beginning to intensify once more and even her clarity of mind was being burned away. Alec was by her sink, a blur of movement as he emptied the remainder of the Tryptophan into his palm and sank beside her once more.

"Here," He coaxed, voice sounding calmer yet still worried as he slung an arm around Max's shoulders and carefully eased her into a sitting position, "Here you go, come on."

Max would have shaken her head if it wasn't already gyrating along with the rest of her frame as Alec attempted to feed her the pills which would send her system into even worse condition with an overdose. She pressed her lips tightly together and turned her face away, willing the seizure to ease up – even just slightly.

"_Max_," Alec's voice was stern, angry even, as she tried to pull away and his grip around her tightened, "you have to take'em, okay? It's gonna help."

"No." Max was pleasantly surprised that the word, shaky though it was, made it to open air, and Alec's face twisted in frustration.

"You already take some?"

Max could only get out an 'mmm' this time, but she figured it was better then nothing. Alec's arms tightened around her, crushing her to his chest and easing the shaking somehow in the process.

"Okay…okay…it'll pass, Maxie."

_It __has__ to. _

Max could hear the raw assurance in Alec's voice and clung to it like a beacon in the night.

The seizure _did_ pass – half an hour of agonizing pain and sweat and even tears later. Max was curled up in the cradle of Alec's arm as he sat beside her, his perfect frame, warm and firm as her own, fitting like a missing puzzle piece against her.

"Sorry." Max whispered, glad her voice had returned and eager to beat the scene as soon as her recovering body allowed her to do so.

Alec scoffed beside her, "For what?'

"You shouldn't have had to see that." Max explained as she used the small amount of strength returned to her to push herself into a sitting position, "It's not exactly a pretty sight."

"Why the hell are you still having seizures? Are you even _taking_ the Tryptophan?" Alec demanded angrily, his tone suggesting he wasn't even going to bother acknowledging Max's apology.

"Of course I am! It's just not helping." Max responded in her defense, threading her fingers shakily through the damp roots of her hair and glaring at Alec, "I told you, I don't think it has anything to do with that."

"Then what?" Alec queried, his face softening somewhat though his lips were still pressed into a tight purse, and Max shook her head ever so slightly.

"I dunno."

Silence reigned for a moment before Max broke the ice as quickly as possible, keen on squelching further conversation on the topic of her mutant seizures.

"Any progress on the Jam Pony front?"

"Spoke to Sketchy." Alec was still eyeing her as though she were about to internally combust, though for some reason he was humoring her by playing along, "He was real quiet 'bout the whole thing at first, but I wheedled it outta him."

"And?" Max questioned anxiously, gripping the cold edge of the bathtub and hoisting herself into a standing position, Alec's hand still maintaining its hold around her hip as he helped her do so.

"Says Normal got yanked out for questioning and Cindy got pulled pretty much right after he left." The male X5 ignored Max's attempts to dislodge herself from his side as he ushered her out of the bathroom and over to the ratty sofa, "Normal's not breathin' a word about what happened, but Sketch says he was pretty worked over, so he's guessing Normal refused to crack and Cindy was brought in to sweeten the pot."

Max's jaw clenched at the thought as she sank into the grimy leather couch, "Which explains why he isn't talking."

"More or less." Alec agreed, and Max couldn't help noticing the way he fiddled with the fraying edges of his gloves, eyes gathered at the edges and lips pursing in concentration. Did the man seriously have a camera-worthy face for _every_ occasion?

_Oh my god._ Max shook herself inwardly, disgusted with her inability to concentrate, _Focus, you idiot. _

"Sounds like it's about time I paid Normal a lil' visit." Max rested her palms against the edge of her seat and glanced up at Alec casually, "You know, try to play bad cop for a change."

"You sure you're up to it?" Alec's eyebrows arched skeptically, and it wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to determine that the X5 was entirely certain Max _wasn't_ up to it.

Max rolled her eyes, "I'll be at Jam Pony's." She clipped her pager to her belt and was reaching for her jacket when she caught sight of the expression on Alec's face. It was a mixture of horror and disgust, his eyes glazing over her shoulder to pinpoint some atrocious sight.

"What?" Max queried cautiously, and Alec's eyebrows narrowed deeper.

"The hell is that?"

Max swiveled on her hip, turning to scan for the source of Alec's unabashed revulsion. Maybe he'd finally noticed the termite's nest buried in the floorboards under the couch…they came out sometimes when they were feeling emboldened.

But there was nothing. Max frowned in confusion as she turned back to Alec.

"I dunno what you're…"

The slug to her jaw was hard enough to send her body into a full circle as she sprawled, unconscious onto the ground.

* * *

When Max came to, she was lying on the comfortable back seat of a car, wrapped in a brown cotton blanket that seemed to block out the frozen air pumping through the open window of the driver's seat.

Feeling her heart race in her chest, Max jolted into a sitting position, getting halfway up before she realized that her wrists were handcuffed together behind her back. Panic began to surge as Max twisted against their grip and found them to be unyielding.

"Hey Maxie!" The chirpy greeting echoed from the front seat of the car, and Max squinted against the disorientation still fogging up her brain as her stomach muscles aided her into a sitting position – giving her a clear shot of Alec's sandy-colored hair and the worn collar of his jacket.

"Alec?" Max glanced out the windows of the car and noticed the sun had long disappeared from the sky, leaving in its place a smattering stars piercing the grim winter darkness that hovered over them like a thick blanket

"Yup." He responded cheerily, and Max felt an instinctive urge to slap the man upside his head – which he had likely anticipated (hence the handcuffs), "How's the head?"

"Did you…" Max struggled to regain her memory and then felt hot anger flush in her face, "You knocked me out?!"

"Had to." Was his unapologetic reply as they whizzed past an overhead sign on the interstate, "You wouldn't have come quietly."

"Come where? Where the hell are we going?" Max demanded in a louder voice as she leant forward, hands still restrained at the small of her back, to peer out of the windshield screen.

"The Big Apple." Alec stated calmly, as though he was not in the least bit worried Max would find some way to head-butt him even in her captive state. Max temporarily abandoned attack mode in her quest for some answers.

"New York? Why?"

Alec gave her a sardonic eyebrow-raise in the rear-view mirror as if to kindly request his fellow X5 refrain from playing stupid.

Max narrowed her eyes quizzically, "You talked to Logan."

"Nope," Alec shifted gears smoothly as they switched lanes, "Your cell phone just needs a volume adjustment."

"Take off the handcuffs." Max ordered tersely, and Alec's lips twisted in mock-thought – his eyes spelled out the answer well enough.

"I dunno, Max." He stated and she began glancing around for something, anything that could aid her in making a break for it, "You might try to kick my ass or something – and seein' as we're driving at the moment, that's not very road-friendly."

"Safety first, is that it?" Max snapped virulently, and he nodded with a smirk of triumph at her in the rear-view.

"You got it."

"Fine." Max stated, and in a brief second she had unlocked the door beside her with her booted toes and kicked down the door handle.

"Max, what're you doin'…" Alec began in a wary voice, "Shit!" He suddenly yelped in protest as Max kicked the door open and a blast of freezing cold air whipped viciously through the car, "Max, we're on a highway, damn it!"

"Then give me the goddamn key!" She insisted over the blare of the wind, "Otherwise I'm dropping and rolling!"

"You'll get hit by every car in range before you make it off the road!" Alec had anger in his eyes now, temporarily dropping one hand from the steering wheel to reach out and grab Max's arm in a vice-grip.

"Then just give me the key, Alec!" Max was determined to have her way with this one. She couldn't believe the man's nerve – pulling her out of the fray right when things were heating up to boiling point. It made her livid.

"Alright!" He yelled, "For god's sake, Max, just get that fucking door closed; we're gonna get pulled over."

"Fine!" Max hooked the toe of her boot through the door handle and pulled it closed compliantly. Her heel slammed down on the lock before she raised her eyebrows acerbically at Alec in the rear-view, "Key?"

"When we stop for the night." The clipped edge to his tone suggested that was as far as he was going to budge. Max's lips pressed together in annoyance.

"What if I need to scratch my nose?"

"Or break mine in two?" Alec flashed her a short glare, "I think you'll live for another hour or so."

"Oh, right." Max squinted at him sardonically, "Cuz we can just pull into any random Motel and get a room for two."

"Relax, would you?" Alec rolled his eyes as though Max were epitomizing the term Drama Queen, "I got a plan."

"Oh yeah, which is _what_?" Max leant back against the leather of the seat and scowled.

"We just entered Iowa." Alec glanced at the GPS attached to his dashboard, "I got some friends in Sioux City; they'll put us up for a night no sweat.'

"Transgenics?" Max cocked her head skeptically, and Alec's shoulders stiffened.

"No. Does it matter?'

"Only if you're in every major headline with the words 'terrorist threat' in bold italics over your head."

"Max, these guys are cool, okay?" Alec's patience sounded strained, and Max resisted the urge to feel vindicated. Finally the man was on the receiving end of all his caution, "Just run with me on this."

'Why?" Max snapped as the car pulled off the interstate and onto an exit road, "Just to recap here, you knocked me out and handcuffed me in the backseat of your car. Trust isn't exactly something you've got a lot of drawing power on with me right now!"

"Oh right, cuz you would _really_ have told me about Molko if I'd just waited on you to make a move." Alec's glare was grim and black as he sped the car up somewhat and glanced in a side-view mirror briefly.

"When there was time for it, _yeah_." Max argued in her defense, "Though even if I _hadn't_, you'd have _no_ right to be angry."

"Oh yeah? Why's that exactly?"

"Because it's none of your _business_, that's why!" Max insisted as though it were obvious, "You keep worrying about everybody's problems except your own and then you wonder why you're all strung out 24-7!"

"_Me_?" Alec actually twisted in his seat to pin Max with an incredulous look, "You're preaching to the mirror, right?" She rolled her eyes, "No really, Max, this is _exactly_ what your problem is, right here." It was Alec's turn to roll his eyes, "God," He muttered the rest of his sentence under his breath, but Max was fairly certain she caught the words 'fucking ridiculous' somewhere in the mix.

A perfect synopsis of the current situation.

"Alec, this isn't gonna help anything…" Max tried to reason as she leant forward once more before suddenly lurching to bang against the windowpane as the car shuddered with a heavy impact.

"What the hell was that?" Max demanded as she struggled to sit up while the car jostled once more. Alec was fighting for control of wheel as the vehicle went into a tailspin.

"We're getting bumped off the road!"

"Yeah I kinda got that!" Max let out a noise of protest as she was shoved into the space between her seat and Alec's with one swift move of the hand he reached behind him, "White's guys?"

"I dunno!" Alec yelled over his shoulder, "Whoever they are, they want us face-down in the asphalt – hang on!" The car swerved dramatically in a U-turn as Alec pulled it into a side alleyway.

"What are you doing?" Max began nervously as a sleek Hummer skidded to a halt at the entrance of the alley and backtracked down the lane. Alec reached around his seat, hauled her up and fiddled with her handcuffs, twisting the key in the lock and freeing Max's wrists.

"Standing my ground." Alec replied shortly as Max tossed the handcuffs aside and pushed open the passenger door.

"When this is over, remind me to kick your ass."

"Why don't you just focus on kicking _theirs_?" Alec ducked out of the car to stand beside Max as a pack of five, well-muscled men exited the Hummer, "Evening, gentlemen."

"494?" One of them queried, and Alec grimaced at him in response.

"Told you." The man nodded at his partners, "Both of'em at once. Imagine the bounty."

Max eyed them up and down critically, "Are you guys for real?"

A vicious smile and the cocking of a gun added weight to the man's response, "We're gonna take you to a friend of ours. He's promised to make it worth our while."

"Really?" Max edged a step closer, face still casual and even patronizing, "Hope so, cuz it's gonna cost you every inch of self-respect you've still managed to retain with a face that ugly."

The man snorted, and then suddenly his gun went off. Max and Alec were both long gone before the bullet punctured the windshield of their car.

Max popped up behind the gun-wielding man, shoving her knee into his and yanking his shoulder back, effectively sending him sprawling onto his back. Before he even hit the ground, however, Max had twisted the gun neatly out of his hand and whacked him across the head with it.

Alec had already taken one out by using the car jack his attacker had pulled from the trunk to clip him across the head. He launched a kick into the second man who moved to attack him, ducking under the staggered swing of a fist before landing one of his own. The man stumbled and then threw himself at Alec recklessly, clearly relying on his size to determine the outcome of the risky maneuver.

Alec jumped back from the body-slam, not eager to sully his jacket with the sleet and slime which licked at his feet, when he bumped into something and nearly tripped.

"Watch what you're doing!" Max hissed, jumping up quickly from where she had taken the brunt of the fall and leaping back to avoid a swing from the two that she had taken on.

"Me?" Alec complained, blocking a fist nearly caught his jaw while he gaped at Max, "You're the one with two left feet!" He slammed his elbow into the face of his attacker and the man grunted in pain, stumbling back to shield his broken nose.

"If you weren't _stepping_ on'em all the time," Max retorted with only half of her usual sting as her attention turned to the crowbar being swung at her head, "They'd…" She grabbed it, shoving it upwards and head-butting its wielder, "be just _fine_!"

Alec's face twisted in bafflement as he grabbed the arm that the fourth attacker was swinging at him, twisting it up and planting a slug into the man's gut before following another one to his face, "_What_? Max, when have I _ever_ stepped on your feet?"

"That convention…" Max came back smoothly, jumping up and slam-kicking her opponent in the head before twisting to land a kick with her other boot as she landed on one foot, "…last week at the White House? You almost broke my toe!"

"Well _that_," Alec spun around after landing a knock-out slug to finish his man off, "was cuz you were spilling valuable information 'bout our resources!"

Max rolled her eyes and kicked her fallen opponent in the face, causing him to groan and go still. "_You_ overreacted to the little exchange of good will I had going with the President and nearly blew the whole deal!"

"Uh whatever, Max." Alec shook his head, clearly not considering further argument worth the effort as they both turned on the last remaining man, who was clutching his nose, blood streaming between his fingers as he stumbled back from them with fear in his eyes.

"So who exactly was gonna slip you some green stuff to hand us over?" Max queried, fists still curled suggestively by her hips as she took a step towards the man.

"Look, just…just…back off, okay?" He yelled, holding one hand in front of him and backing against the Hummer.

"Yeah, great idea." Alec nodded with a caustic scowl, "Just keep tellin' us what to do while we hand you your ass…"

"Okay!" The man cracked quicker then expected, sniffing at the blood in his nose as he glared viciously at the transgenics, "Name's Reeco. Caz over there was in touch with'im," He motioned to their motionless leader at Max's feet, "some kinda mafiosa guy. I dunno – that's all I got, I swear."

"Reeco?" Alec locked his jaw and glanced befuddled to his left for a moment before returning his gaze to the man, "Jimmy Reeco?"

"I told you, I don't know." The man panted, his hand inching toward the driver's door of the Hummer, and Max threw Alec a look of perplexity.

"You know this guy?"

"Who, Reeco? Yeah." Alec brushed past her and snagged up the man's collar, slamming him none too gently against the hood of the car, "You sure about this guy?"

"Y…yeah…"

"Good, cuz if you're lying, I'm gonna hunt you down and break your fucking neck." Alec's matter-of-fact statement caused Max to narrow her eyes in confusion. It was rare the X5 ever dished out threats of a lethal nature – especially over something as mundane to the transgenic race as being hunted by random individuals.

_Though Alec did say he knew this Reeco person,_ Max mused as Alec shoved the man away with an order for him to 'move his goddamn truck outta the way'.

"You okay?" Max queried hesitantly as she helped Alec drag the four bodies clear of their car.

"Yeah." He eyed her oddly, almost as though questioning whether _Max_ was 'okay'.

"Good." Max smiled, and then her fist hooked across his jaw and sent Alec's head snapping to the side, "That's for kidnapping me."

"You're welcome." Was Alec's unfazed response as he climbed into the driver's seat without so much as rubbing the sting out of his jaw – though Max knew it _had_ to hurt.

"I didn't _thank_ you for anything." She snapped out of reflex as she swung into the passenger's seat of the vehicle and slammed her door shut defiantly.

"You _should_." Alec informed her, revving the engine to life and backing rapidly out of the alleyway, "Now you can finally get those runes translated – God only _knows_ what they actually say." Here he chuckled, "'If you can read this, get a life'…or maybe it says 'kick me' in Aramaic…better stay out of the Middle East there, Maxie, you never know what could…"

"Who's Reeco?' Max swiftly changed topics, somewhat irked at the mockery of her rune plight and not in the mood for being the alibi that got Alec off the hook.

"An old acquaintance." He pulled back onto the interstate with a resigned sigh, "Well more like a workmate really."

Max raised an eyebrow skeptically, "Doesn't sound like anybody I know at Jam Pony."

Alec winced in what was almost offense, "Max, you seriously think I rode the high live on minimum wage and tips? Please – this jacket costs more then Jam Pony's assets combined."

"So he was in the Andy business then?" Max pressed with a slight smirk, and Alec rolled his eyes.

"Somethin' like that."

"Something _like_ that or _that_?"

"It's not _important_, Max." Alec's words carried a finality to then which convinced her that it was in fact _very_ important, "Don't worry your head about it."

Max settled back in her seat with a determined silence, watching the orange lights on the highway flicker past.

"New York City?"

Alec smiled in triumph as he hiked up the radio, "New York City."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Weather's getting cold** this end - and of course, dear **Tyler would have to come down with SOMETHING** to commemorate the summer's end (like sinusitis...if that's an actual condition:P). **Won't bore you with excuses for the delay, but here's another chapter for y'all. Enjoy and review!** Oh and by the way, **in case you didn't see it on my profile, the 'soundtrack' for my DA fic is up on the blogsite now** in an automatic playlist,** so you can listen to it while you read if music is your thing **(it's so totally mine!). There's a pre-release playlist on the SPN blogsite as well (**WHO SAW THE Supernatural SEASON 5 PROMO ON CWTV?! AWESOME!!**!) - love and review!_

**_-- Tyler_**

* * *

"Authorities completed evacuation of Sector Seven early yesterday morning after officials confirmed that the fenced-off abandoned industrial zone known as Terminal City is emitting dangerous airborne toxins. Health and Safety officer Kevin Harville, who spearheaded the investigation which took place in the small hours of Tuesday morning, had this comment…"

"Hey, turn it up." Sketch nudged OC, his features as grim as her own while she aimed the remote control at the Jam Pony TV and hiked up the sound on the newscast.

"Our findings confirm reports that the biohazards for which the area has been restricted are no longer quarantined." Kevin Harville was a picture of neutrality as he nodded at the crowd of microphones surrounding him, "It's therefore the decision of the US government to evacuate the sector prior to immediate decontamination."

"Prior to immediate _massacre_, he means." Even Normal, watching the report at an aloof distance with his arms folded over his chest, seemed unusually irked.

"Have you spoken with the transgenics occupying the site?" A female voice demanded over the pulsing of the camera lights, "How will this affect their current peace dealings with the government?"

"I spoke briefly with X5s 452 and 494…"

"Yeah – great way to kick things off; just call'em by their designations." Normal called once more, only to have Cindy focus her glare at him from over her shoulder.

"Hey Normal, think you could save the commentary for the DVD release? Some of us are tryin' to listen to Mr Health and Safety over here."

"Oh I'm sorry, your majesty, are my attempts at reconciling with the fact that our government is inherently _misled_ cramping your style?" Normal retorted dryly, and Sketchy swiftly squelched the ensuing argument by snatching the remote off of O.C and turning the volume up once more.

"…believe that at this point in time, it's not clear how events will progress. All I can say at the moment is that any hostile measures taken before official declaration of conflict would be from the transgenics, and not the US government."

Static flickered across the screen, followed shortly by the familiar cold-colored template of an Eyes-Only broadcast.

"Is that what you'd have the public believe, Mr Harville? That _transgenics_ will be the ones to make the first move at violence?"

"Oh great," Normal interjected with a sardonic nod at Logan's cropped visage, "Seattle's knight in digital armor's joined the scene. _This_ should be interesting…"

"Y'know what's _interesting_? The other end o' the room!" OC barked without taking her eyes from the screen as Logan continued.

"Only hours after the sweep performed on Sector seven, Terminal City's central base was flooded with anthrax – the work of a team sent to infiltrate the transgenic's ranks and take out their leaders."

"You know what _I'd_ like to know is where he gets his _information_." Sketchy shook his head at the TV, "I mean Max wouldn't even let me _interview_ her back in the day. But this Eyes Only guy…"

"Shut up, fool." OC ground out as she stepped heavily on the messenger's toe and jabbed him in the ribs simultaneously.

"The attempt failed, but the signal is clear." Logan's synthesized voice continued, "The government was not to blame for this attack – Ames White and his affiliates in the Conclave, a secret organization devoted to selective breeding in order to create the perfect human being, are behind it. They have been ruthlessly hunting down and slaughtering transgenics since Manticore's demise with one goal in mind: removing the only force standing between them and global domination. Now the question we have to ask ourselves here is…" Grayscale eyes blinked searchingly into millions of viewers' souls nationwide, "Are we going to stand for it?"

Cindy's eyes were narrowed forbiddingly as she and the rest of Jam Pony's team digested the question that held far more weight for them then it did anybody else.

"Dude I know what you're thinking." One of the bike messengers muttered to Sketchy, "And don't even."

"M'not thinkin' anything" Sketch responded innocently, but as he moved to slink away from the crowd, he watched as Cindy joined him.

"Where d'you think you're goin'?" She cast him a sly grin, and the lanky man patted her condescendingly on the arm.

"Got a package for Sector seven, of course, and you?"

Cindy raised an eyebrow and cast a glance over her shoulder at where Normal was bawling out his hapless employees about something along the lines of a clock-in, clock-out system soon to be enforced.

Cindy's eyes were bright with mischievous determination as she nodded a grin at Sketchy, "Let's do it, sugar."

* * *

"This is totally ridiculous."

Max stood beside Alec in the elevator, cheap tunes tinkling from speakers in the roof of the box as they whizzed past floor after floor.

"Would you relax? You're gonna give yourself a hernia." Alec was a picture of languid indifference, hands clasped loosely in front of him as he rocked back and forth on his heels, "Me as well if this keeps up."

"I'll give you something _else_ if your dumb-ass _commentary_ keeps up."

"Max, the guy's a weed, okay? I did my research; we got nothin' to worry about." He assured her casually as the elevator chimed and ground to a halt at the 26th floor, "Just follow my lead, alright?"

"I get a choice?" Max queried with acidic cheer in her voice as she stalked after Alec into the plush hallway, and he smiled.

"Someone's cruising for a bruising…ow."

"Taken care of." Max fell into place alongside him, a contented grin on her face as the X5 male rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder.

"You're archaic, you know that?" He grumbled, all gloating and enthusiasm aside now as they reached the penthouse's front door, "I mean who needs fists when they've got words? Oh wait…" Alec's eyes tightened with the plastic grin he flashed at Max, who ensured that the gesture was nullified by focusing her attention on buzzing the doorbell.

"So we just walk right in, huh?"

Max raised an eyebrow at the peephole, "That's the plan."

"That's _your_ plan…" Alec cut himself off mid-lecture to paste his silicon grin back on as the intercom buzzed.

"Who is it?" The voice was female, strong and crisp with Latin flavor. Alec gave Max a look which indicated that he 'had this one'. She rolled her eyes in evident disgust as he leant over her shoulder to speak into the box.

"Fed Ex special delivery for Mr Triken?"

"Be right with you."

"Thank you." Alec forced the words through grit teeth as Max nudged him sharply.

"Triken?"

"Alias."

"Fed Ex?"

"Shut up and put this on." He reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a pair of excellently-forged identity cards dangling from bright neck-strings and handed one to Max.

"I do _not_ wanna know where you scored this shot of me." She complained under her breath with a grimace, ducking into the fluorescent pink necklace before catching sight of the name, "_Are_ you serious?"

"What can I say? I'm a Friends junkie."

"Consuela _Bananahammock_?!"

Alec's malevolent glee was ill-timed and earned him another slug to the shoulder and a glare for good measure.

"Ow! Look step into character, would ya?"

"Sure, if you step in front of a _truck_…"

Both X5s broke out twin smiles of practiced good will as the front door opened abruptly and a tall, svelte young woman eyed them without a hint of suspicion.

"Mr Triken is busy at the moment. I sign for him, yes?"

"_Yes_." Alec's tone made little attempt to hide the appraising eye he gave the Spanish girl's gazelle-like appearance, and Max forced a smile at the woman.

"Alec?"

"Huh."

"The special delivery?" Max threw a glance his way and Alec quickly snapped into gear (and out of male lion prowl mode).

"Right," He cleared his throat and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket once more, producing a miniscule package highlighted with crisscrossing Fed Ex lines, "Uh here you go, miss…?"

"My friends call me Letizia." The young Spanish woman flashed a brazenly flirtatious smile Alec's way, causing Max to roll her eyes in revulsion the X5's way before she once more stepped into the play.

"Wonderful – if you'll just sign right here…" Alec's plan seemed to have been at least mildly less sloppy then Max's as he procured a crumpled form and pen…with which he fiddled absently.

"God, can never get the caps off these cheap suckers." He muttered, and Max narrowed her eyebrows in a quizzical frown at the normally-adept transgenic's butterfingered attempts.

It was then that she caught it. The signal was brief but enough to beep on Max's radar. Alec's fingers posed haltingly in mid-twist on the cap and Max instinctively knew that was her cue to work magic.

Before Letizia could finish her coy remark about _assisting_ Alec, Max's knees had buckled in a swoon worthy of the black and white screen. Alec's hands were supporting her before she hit the cold, ebony marble floor – lucky for him, or she would've had to hand him his ass for uninsured bruising.

"Oh my god!" Letizia pressed a hand against the flush in her olive cheeks as Alec hoisted a fainting Max into his arms, "Is she alright?"

"Hypoglycemic." Alec stated in a less-then-composed manner as he tossed wild glances around before resting pleading green orbs on the Spanish 'housekeeper', "She needs sugar – you have any in stock?"

"Yes, yes! Come inside, quickly!" Letizia ushered the X5s inside without a second though, panic written across her delicate features, "Should I call doctor?"

"No, no, no, just uh…" Alec wove his way quickly through the plush living room and set Max down on one of the gray, suede sofas, "Could you grab some chocolate or orange juice or somethin'?"

"Yes, fine." Letizia assured him in anguish with a shake of her hand as she backed towards the kitchen before turning and hurrying through a large set of glass doors, "One moment, yes? I be _one_ moment!"

"No problem!" Alec called after the anxious 'housekeeper', feeling a small twang of guilt at her obvious distress.

A _very_ small twang. That was all they had time for.

"Come on." Max was already on her feet and making her way in a low crouch through the living room toward the mahogany door to their right.

Turning the door knob silently, Max stepped inside the bedroom, Alec on her heels. Both X5s paid their luxurious surroundings no heed, instead focusing on the small, lean figure of a man lounging sullenly on the four-poster bed.

"Special delivery." Max broke the ice with Jam Pony-worthy class as the man jumped and twisted to glare at the X5s with bloodshot eyes.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" He demanded, wrapping the white cotton bathrobe hanging off his frame like a sack tighter about him, and Max was stunned at how young and frail and un-Manticore-like Reese Molko appeared.

"Uh the uh…" Alec jabbed a thumb behind him innocently, "Door was open."

Molko scowled, the green of his red-rimmed eyes dull and almost lifeless in comparison to Alec's emerald floodlights…

Max smacked herself internally, _Concentrate._

"Yeah well _this_ one wasn't, now beat it." Molko was standing now, knotting the belt of his robe and hiding an inferno of fear under a very thin pane of righteous indignation.

"Sorry to trouble you. We'll just have the package returned to sender then?" Alec queried breezily, already feigning an exit while Max frowned at her colleague's unprofessional behavior.

Molko rolled his eyes and crossed the distance between himself and Max, careful to keep at arm's length as he extended a hand.

"Just…give me my package and get out of here."

"No problem." Max handed over the miniature paperbound article and held out a hand for Alec's crumpled receipt form, "Just need a signature."

Molko had frozen and was gazing at the sender details scrawled on the package as though he'd just been shot. Max narrowed her eyes hesitantly.

"You okay?"

"Name ringing a bell?" Alec's eyebrows rose ostentatiously, and both Molko and Max started slightly as the door slammed shut – courtesy of Alec's boot.

"Molko?"

Molko glanced up sharply at the word, the thin panel cloaking his terror dissolving completely as Alec stepped closer to him.

"Who are you people?" Molko shot a fearful gaze from Max to Alec as he backed slowly away, and Alec smiled tightly.

"We're not _people_. Well…not human anyway. _Your_ kind saw to that."

"Oh my god…" Molko was sweating anxiously all of a sudden, frail body trembling like a leaf in the wind as he fell back onto his bed and Alec towered over him, "You're…transgenics."

"Give the man a prize." Alec uttered sardonically with an expression for Max that suggested she take before he broke the feeble young man in half.

"Look we're not here to hurt you – we just need some information." Max kept her voice low as Letizia's began to drift questioningly through the house.

"Information on what?" Molko queried, "Manticore? You know more then I do; they kept me in a _lab_."

"Kinda know the feeling." Max responded sharply as she moved to stand in front of Alec and leant over Molko matter-of-factly, causing the man to shrink further back.

"Look I…I was just a history geek, alright? Languages…stuff like that, that's why they kept me…"

"Right, see I'd love to buy into your lil' sob story?" Max's smile was anything but friendly and worked with the squint of her eyes to truly petrify, "But a little _birdie_ told me you were BFFs with the _Conclave_ for fifteen years so, let's just skip the poor-me's here, alright?"

"Max, we got company." Alec nodded towards a scuffling in the hall outside the door.

"Get rid of her." Max didn't spare a glance behind her as she continued to level a menacing stare at Molko. Alec sighed and beat the scene.

"Wait – _Max_?" The gangly man pinned her with a disbelieving expression, "Guevara? As in 452 Guevara?"

"_As in _quit comin' up with questions and start answering _mine_, fast."

"You haven't even asked me anything!" Molko protested in a tone that was far too strangled to be huffy. Max raised an eyebrow.

"I need you to interpret something for me."

"Hire a translator…hey!" Molko yelped as Max's hands seized the collar of his bathrobe and yanked him halfway off the bed.

"We got as long as it'll take for me to get you to co-operate, now what's it gonna be?" She forced a louder notch into her voice with the latter end of her threat, and Molko cringed.

"Okay! Geesh, not good at takin' suggestions, are ya?"

"Yeah well you suck at laying low; don't give _me_ a beat-down." Max tossed him casually back onto his rear before unzipping the sleeve of her jacket and baring her forearm.

"Woah." Molko whistled and fumbled around on his bedside desk, donning a pair of glasses and taking hold of Max's wrist, "Where'd you get these done?"

"Place called Ink 'n Sink." She responded absently before breaking the heavy pause Molko's confusion had brought on with a glare and a head-cock, "They just showed up a couple months ago. Think Sandemen had them scrawled into my DNA somehow."

"Amazing." The man studied the runes for a full minute in awed silence before Max shattered it unceremoniously by slapping away Molko's fingers as they traced over her skin.

"Look without touching!"

He trained smug green eyes, encased in a ring of grey and red, up at her, "This is the language of our ancestors. Every holy book the Conclave has in stock is written in these symbols."

"Great, so what does it mean?" Max prompted, feeling a cold shiver of doom tremble oddly down her spine at the tragic yet strangely gleeful air that had suddenly come over Molko.

"Well I'd love to translate them for you." His eyes were still locked with hers, voice soft as a peculiar smile played at his lips, "But I think we're about to go our separate ways."

Max's eyes tightened but she didn't waste time, yanking her hand away from Molko and whipping around the face the door just as a body was kicked through and tumbled to the ground amidst large splinters of oak.

Alec stood at the threshold of the door, blood pouring from a cut in his head and trickling strong down the side of his face. "Max, we gotta grab'im and go - now!"

"Come on." Max grabbed Molko by the arms and hauled the passive-aggresively protesting man like a rag doll across the room to an inconspicuous side door.

"Okay fire escape, _now_!" Alec had somehow scored a handgun (Max didn't want to know exactly how) and had taken up guard duty covering her back as she pulled the door open and yanked Molko down the staircase leading to an emergency exit.

"They'll have the doors covered!"

"I got a game plan!"

Alec's insistence did little to alleviate Max's dread at the sound of a helicopter hovering over the apartment block.

"They're fencing us!" She yelled over the roar of the bird approaching the staircase window as she half-shoved, half-pulled Molko onto the first landing.

"That's Dix, we gotta wing it!" Alec's yell demanded instant compliance as the X5 smashed an elbow through the window pane and kicked in the jagged stalagmites of glass clinging stubbornly to the frame, "_Now_, Max!"

"Wait no, no, no, no NO!" Molko's shriek of protest drowned in the billowing winter wind as Max promptly caught the line tossed from the chopper parallel the window, knotted it around his waist and shoved him off the ledge.

"They've got him – hurry up!" Alec yelled at the sounds of footsteps clanging up the steps and hostile shouts, "Max, make a jump for it!"

"What about you?" She demanded over the blare of the propeller as Molko was reeled up to safety and hauled into the open helicopter.

"I'm right behind you, just_ go_!" Alec insisted, and as a black-capped head appeared at the foot of the stairwell, Max did just that, pouncing onto the window sill and launching herself at the helicopter a good few meters out. Her hands grasped one of the bird's legs and she pulled herself onto it with a nubile swing. The dusk air was freezing and whipping up a howl at their altitude, and it was only as Max flipped her long, brown hair away from her face that she realized Alec was surrounded by a large contingent of armed forces.

"Alec!" Max yelled, panic written on her features as she watched her friend take the closest few to him down before turning to jump out the window.

Alec's eyes had locked with hers the moment his boots landed on the ledge, and Max knew the angry calm in them was demanding that she get the hell out of there…right before a slew of tasor wires jabbed into Alec's back and he was dragged back through the window.

"Alec!" Max screamed, and above her Dix turned hastily to Tank.

"She'll try to jump it – get us outta here!"

Tanker promptly veered the chopper away from the building and in the direction of a flight path to Seattle.

"Max!" Dix's hand reached out to the X5 on the helicopter's leg, and Max cast one last helpless expression in the direction of the building before allowing the nomalie to haul her inside.


	10. Chapter 10

_Tx and apologies to everyone who's been sticking it out despite the major hiatus in updates. It's not for lack of desire to write - it's just that I've been tryint to get everything ready for my move to Mexico (from the UK) and it's no small feat! Good news is I now own a laptop which means that my smattering of to-and-fros now allow for a greater chance at updates! Please excuse the shortness of this chapter and leave me a REALLY long review to make up for it :P. Love to all!_

_-- Tyler_

_(PS: Check out the link in my profile for my one and only SPN music vid :P - it's not a ball of cheese, I promise you)_

* * *

Joshua dipped his head, cocking it to the side in dog-like sympathy at Max's silent form. The X5 female had been sitting, elbows on her knees and hands limply clamped together – eyes dark and blank and staring at the cracked, filthy floor of Central's makeshift quarters.

"You okay?"

Max was silent in response, face set into stony, regretful self-contempt.

Joshua parked his large form across from Max on one of the cold metal chairs, straddling it and resting his arms across the length of its back – content to wait it out.

"I shouldn't have left him." Max finally spoke in a soft, low voice dripping with internal contempt, "I had no idea he'd pull something that dumb-assed."

"Alec did it to save you, Max." Joshua responded gently, "Just lookin' out for Lil' Fella."

"I don't need him to look out for me!" Max snapped, head whipping up to reveal the anger now clouding her features, "Alec's been tripping 'bout watching my back ever since we set up camp here and it was already pissing me off when he _wasn't_ taking the fall for it!"

"We'll get him back." Tank assured her from his corner of the room, "Mole 'n I've already assembled a rescue team."

Max jumped to her feet, "When do we leave?"

"You're not going anywhere." The X5 informed her matter-of-factly as he cocked his head to the side and stabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Molko who was hunched in a chair sullenly, "Since you 'n Alec were so damn trigger-happy to bag this gremlin, you can buckle down to business and get those runes translated. That is what this is all about, after all."

"A: You don't call the shots here," Max had had more then enough of Tanker's self-righteous attitude, and the deadliness in her eyes as she advanced slowly on him suggested as much, "and B: Alec was the one who knocked me out and dragged me handcuffed to New York here, so don't even think about laying this one on me!"

"Yeah well if you hadn't been attempting to channel Wonder Woman again…"

"Guys!" Joshua's remonstrance was, for once, not laced with timid humor, "This isn't helping."

"You know what would be helping?" Mia bounced into the scene, voice still chirpy with its usual zest as she flounced her brown waves over her shoulder, "If someone could convince Mole to go easy on the ammo. He's putting on quite some show for the squad cars."

"What?" Max and Tanker exchanged mortified expressions before breaking into a run and making for the door.

Sure enough, a military perimeter was being formed around TC, with helicopter propellers blaring and ominous black trucks setting up camp outside the gates.

And sure enough, Mole and his sentinels were pumping double-duty, lining TC's turrets with grenade launchers and rifles at the ready.

Tanker squinted up at one of the men hunched over a vicious-looking weapon. "Where the hell did we get _rocket-launchers_?"

"Come on." Max was already climbing the steps to confront Mole, who was busy issuing orders (and weapons) to a growing line of transgenic residents.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" She demanded, gripping the lizard nomalie's arm tightly and throwing him her patent death glare.

Mole was, as usual, unfazed, "Just tryin' to protect my own here, Max."

"It doesn't have to be like this…" Max began, but Mole's scoff cut her off mid-sentence as he leaned over her, eyes blazing.

"Oh really? Tell that to the death squad yappin' at our heels! Tell that to the team fumigating Central, or better yet," His red-rimmed eyes blinked harshly at Max, "Why don'tcha tell that to _Alec_? Oh wait – _White_ has his ass!"

"Max!" Dalton's frenzied voice interrupted the escalating conflict as he appeared out of nowhere, bleached blonde hair tousled from the wind that was lashing slender snowfall around them.

"You got a call from someone – says she's got Alec." The boy extended Max's cell phone towards her, and only then did she notice it was missing from the zip pocket of her jacket.

"Thanks." Max stalled on launching the third degree about exactly how Dalton of all people had ended up with her phone in favor of the severity of the situation, holding the phone to her ear, "Max here."

"452." The voice was polite but by no means friendly, "So good to finally make your acquaintance – after all, we've never formally met, have we?"

Max froze. She knew this woman. Flashes of close-cropped hair and smudged white face-paint tinged with red smears were enough to connect the dots in the X5's mind.

"Lemme guess," Max turned away from the questioning expressions of Mole and Dalton as she headed back down the staircase, "You're the Conclave's queen bee."

A miniscule pause in beat suggested the woman had taken that last jibe a little personally, "I wouldn't put it that way. But I _am_ the deciding factor in whether or not 494 retains his life."

Max didn't have to picture the smug face the Familiar woman was likely wearing right just then, "So _decide_ to let him walk – that's of course if you wanna retain _your_ life. I'm just assuming here."

"Oh _pre_suming's the word." The woman responded in a tight, collected manner, "You see 494 is almost as essential to Sandeman's plan as you are. We take him out – I foresee that traitor's scheme going nowhere."

Max raised her eyebrows, "Yeah well do you also foresee me kicking your ass? Cuz trust me, it's in the works."

"Enough of the farce, 452." The Familiar stated coldly, "We want Molko back in our custody. You want 494 in yours. A trade's in order."

Max shrugged, "Sounds great. Where do you wanna do this?"

The silence that followed her flippant acceptance left Max with full confidence that her bait had been swallowed.

"A warehouse just outside of Sector 4." The woman continued, "Follow the signs for Melvine Industrial Estate. You'll know it when you see it."

"And Alec will be there?" Max prodded sharply as she caught sight of Tanker approaching her purposefully and held up a hand to still him in his tracks.

"Certainly. He'll be traded for Molko simultaneously – you're free to bring whatever security you choose."

Max nodded, "Sounds like a date. When do you pick Geek Boy up?"

"You have an hour." The conclave female stated crisply, "No tricks, 452. Remember – we see things before you do."

Max hung up her cell with a slight smile tugging at her lips, "Not anymore."

"So?" Tanker raised his eyebrows at Max demandingly, hands tucked into the pockets of his beige jacket, "You gonna tell me what's the plan?"

Max scowled at him, "You and Alec have got _way _too much in common."

He shrugged with a sardonic smile as he kept step with Max, "You really should turn down your phone."

* * *

Molko glanced up sulkily from his seat as Max marched determinedly into the room.

"You know, I've got _friends_, okay?" He snapped as she rummaged through a plastic folder dug out from the drawer of a dilapidated desk, "Very _powerful_ friends, and they're gonna come looking for me and they're gonna hunt you down like a…"

"Do me a favor?" Max paused long enough to grace him with a pointed look, "Shut up."

"_You_ shut up." The language expert grumbled, his face dry with the evident displeasure he was feeding off. He leant back in his chair defiantly as Max approached him, slapping the folder onto the desk before him, "What is it?"

"It's the runes." She responded, flipping open the cover to display a stack of snapshots featuring the markings littering her skin, "All of'em so far, at any rate. Get to work – you got an hour."

"An hour?" Molko spluttered indignantly, shoving off from his chair as Max turned to leave, "You clearly have _no_ concept of realistic expectations…"

"You worked at _Manticore_ – neither should you." She replied with a foreboding smile before spinning on her heels once more and nodding at Joshua on the way out, "Keep an eye on him."

* * *

Alec couldn't resist the smirk that came over his features as the pale-faced priestess (if a red, tatty robe and a face full of warpaint could class one as such) stalked decidedly into the tin room housing his cage.

"Well, well." He unfolded his arms from their position behind his head and propped himself up on one elbow, "Just can't get enough o' me, huh?"

The Familiar Head drilled unflinching eyes into his own, "You represent a bygone era of advancement, 494. It's hardly something to boast of."

"Ah well see how _I_ figure it," Alec rose to his feet, jacket clutched in one hand and the other waving a finger patronizingly, "is you just can't get over your jealousy issues. I mean, sure – you're bred as strong, as fast, maybe even as smart as my sort but lookswise?" He cracked a smug smirk, "You're one fugly bitch."

"Let me explain something to you, 494." The woman stepped close enough to his cage to rest her fingers on one of the criss-crossing bars, "You understand the notion of destiny, I assume. Do you concur?"

Alec shrugged casually, "Sure, why not? I mean I always figured I was meant for bigger things then sweepin' up the floor with all your kind, but we'll start with that."

"You were created for a purpose." The Familiar maintained her deadpan expression as her eyes followed Alec's mild pacing, "452 was designed to embody clinical perfection…"

"Ahem." Alec cleared his throat loudly, and the woman frowned. He shrugged, "No just uh…you should see her before her coffee."

"Her chemical make-up is class-A – what you might call an accelerated stage of the next human evolution." She continued without missing a beat, "Although Intelligent Design is the actual root of the current war being waged…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up." Alec's complete disregard for her credulity was manifest in the disbelieving crinkling of his forehead, "You're tellin' me _God_ has something to do with all this?"

"People _play_ God, 494." The woman responded tersely, "That's the issue at hand."

"Really." The cynicism was bold in his voice, "And the whole time I thought it was just about whacking _Max_ so you guys could keep _breeding_ or uh…" Alec flailed his fingers in revulsion, "whatever it is you do for kicks."

Her mouth, already a thin, angry line, tightened deeper, "This is no joke, 494. 452 is a threat to everything this Conclave holds dear, and she will be exterminated," She cocked her head to the side at the dark challenge that suddenly clouded Alec's face, "and so will you – if you continue to facilitate 452's interference with our plans."

Alec nodded briefly as he pulled in his lips and appeared to mull over the threat. "'Kay well I'll see your threat – and raise you an army of bad-ass motherfuckers immune to your little poison-knife routine." He smiled caustically, "Your go."

Her blank aura remained, impassive to the blatant mockery being leveled her way, "How about a show of hands?"

Alec's eyes narrowed cautiously, his arms moving to fold across his chest as the priestess tapped her earpiece.

"Bring her in."

Alarm bells pealed in the X5s head, and he took a step backwards to appraise the situation as the room's door opened and a pair of male Familiars appeared, dragging with them a chocolate-skinned woman.

Alec's arms unfolded instantly to curl back into fist-ended trunks of power.

"You _bitch_."

"Ruffled feathers?" The priestess cocked her head in triumph, "I believe we call this a trump card."

"Yeah the Ace of _Blackmail_ – your favorite." Alec snapped tersely in response.

Cindy was, to Alec's relief, very much conscious and aware – her eye-roll and the jab she elbowed at one of her captors suggested as much, at any rate.

"I'mma smack you silly, Lil' Red Riding Hood." Cindy informed the Familiar woman matter-of-factly before turning to Alec, "My oh my – turns out I'm not the only gate-crasher at this whole 'damn the world to hell' bash goin' down."

"Wait a minute," Alec waved a hand in suspicious displeasure as he stepped closer to the bars between him and his friend, "You actually came here _voluntarily_?"

"Damn straight." OC responded, then rolled her eyes at the less-then-pleased expression that graced the X5's expression at her words, "Well _someone_ had to bust yo' pretty ass outta here, and my _girl_ is otherwise engaged."

Alec allowed himself a close-mouthed groan of frustration, "Cindy, for the last time, Max 'n I do _not_ need your help."

She raised an eyebrow cynically, "I'll believe _that_ when I see you two gettin' outta _one_ tight spot without me 'n Sketch to back ya up."

"Enough banter." The Familiar snapped with a bland glare for Alec, "452 is doing just fine on her own. She's agreed to hand over Reese Molko in exchange for your release."

"And you're gonna play _fair_." Alec didn't sound convinced of there even being a remote possibility of such a notion.

"Of course."

"Yeah." Alec threw a smug grin at the wall beside him – a grin that was quickly replaced by a heavy-lidded scowl and aimed straight at his captor, "And cows fly."

"If Manticore had been allowed to fester for a longer period of time?" The woman cast him a jaded smile, "It's likely."

OC turned skeptical eyes on the Familiar, "Lady – you whack. Alec –" She raised her eyebrows knowingly at her friend, "Don't sweat it. Original Cindy got this one under wraps."

"And how exactly do you plan on…" The Familiar priestess had barely begun her cynical statement when the blare of sirens whistled through the window panes high above their heads.

"Jus' callin' in the cavalry, sister." Cindy grinned and then seized the window of time to slam her fist into the woman's face. Alec gripped the bars of his prison in frustration, eyes deadly with the adrenaline surge that pumped through him as one of the male Familiars struck Cindy across the side of her face.

Cindy hit the floor beside the fallen priestess and wasted no time, snagging a keyring from the woman's belt, "Alec!" She hurled it at the bars with all her might before being kicked in the side repeatedly.

The damage had been done, however. Alec caught the keys as they fell and instantly unlocked the cage, landing a glorious knock-out slug into the man attacking Cindy and sending him slamming against the wall a few good feet away.

The second Familiar was on him already – a hulking giant of a man with tightly-bunched muscles and a face full of steel. Alec sized him up in a heartbeat and pivoted back on his heel, launching a bluff kick aimed for the man's kidney and catching him in the jaw with the fist Alec placed in the path of the Familiar's dodge.

The man stumbled back, clearly taken aback by the raw tenacity Alec was throwing into the fight so early on in the game. He cocked his head to the side and spat blood, staring unnervingly at the X5 as though he had grown seven heads.

Alec backed up slightly, reaching out an arm to help Cindy to her feet even she attempted a stand, his eyes never leaving the remaining Familiar even as the sound of Cindy hauling the priestess to her feet none too gently reverberated through the air.

Alec's opponent swung out a fist which he grabbed, pulling the man's torso into exposure and slamming his knee into the Familiar's gut repeatedly (it was Max's favorite move so he figured it would work for him). A final head-butt sent the man sprawling to the ground and Alec seized the day, grabbing Cindy's wrist moments after she had slammed the priestess' head against the brick wall and rendered her unconscious.

"Come on!" Alec pulled OC through the corridor as shouts and gunshots began to fill the air, "I have no idea where I'm going, by the way!"

"Take a left, a _left_!" Cindy insisted as they hurried past scattered Familiars running from the police brigade storming their hideaway. Alec swerved at her second scream to narrowly dart down a darkened corridor and stumble on an exit door.

"It's…" Cindy began, but before she had finished her sentence, Alec's boot had splintered the door's lock and slammed it open.

"…already open!" Cindy yelled petulantly as Alec half-dragged, half-carried the woman up a flight of stairs and into the back alleyway that greeted them.

Alec appeared more ill-at-ease then Cindy had ever seen him as he glanced quickly around the alley before turning and gripping her shoulders, "You okay?"

"Will you quit worryin'?" She snapped in response, "We gotta beat this scene and fast! Sketchy's round the corner – come on!" With the final words, OC snagged Alec's hand and ran down the lane, ducking low as they came to a bend.

"Hold up." Alec shoved her behind him, pressing both their backs to the wall and hazarding a glance around the corner at the slew of squad cars parked, sirens still blaring, relatively abandoned.

"There he is." Cindy nodded at a beat-up, decrepit Ford hovering anxiously on the curb, "Come on."

"Whoa, whoa, hang on." Alec's hand reaching across stopped her in her tracks, "Street's crawling with feds."

Cindy raised her eyebrows at him, "Original Cindy got a plan."

"Does it involve you getting your _ribs_ kicked in again? Cuz if so we're going with _my_ plan…"

"Just trust me!" Cindy kept her grip on Alec's arm and, ignoring his rabid glare, stalked purposefully towards the waiting Ford, eyes straight ahead and on her target as though she owned the freaking block.

Alec rolled his eyes with a great deal more anger then petulance as he kept stride with his friend, hood pulled up and eyes scanning the ten-foot perimeter around OC for any signs of danger.

_She's gonna get us all killed. _


	11. Chapter 11

_There are a slew of reasonable explanations for the prolonged hiatus with this story (I won't bore you with detail - merely apologize profusely for my absence). I am now in Mexico and involved in very satisyfing albeit gruelling volunteer work and therefore have only begun to crank out the updates as of now. But WE'RE BACK, BABY! Show me some love, peeps._

_-- Tyler  
_

* * *

"Hey!"

Sure enough, Cindy and Alec hadn't gotten more then halfway to the Ford when they were approached by a pair of Sector cops, totting guns and aggressive expressions.

"Thank God!" Cindy suddenly burst out, face flooding with desperate relief as she threw her arms around the Sector cop closing in on Alec, "Oh baby, I was so worried!" She drew back and slapped him full across the face, "What, no phone call? Just slipped your mind to call an' tell the tell mother of your child that you ain't _dead_?"

The cop appeared frozen in shock. Alec exchanged bewildered eyebrow raises with the man's partner while Cindy continued her tirade.

"As if it ain't enough that yo' lawyer's houndin' me for statement twenty-four seven, now you gotta go and tear me up by scroungin' around with this low-life here!" She shoved the second police officer in the chest, prompting the man to adopt an expression of utter shock that matched his partner's perfectly.

"Don't just stand there, fool! Say somethin' for yourself!" Cindy began to yell, and Alec took the opportunity to take hold of her shoulders and pull her back from the second slap she'd been about to launch.

"Okay, I think someone forgot to take their _meds_ today, huh?" Alec held a struggling Cindy tight while she screamed out a vicious string of graphic threats and the Sector cops remained stunned beyond words, "Sorry, officers. I'm with Western State Hospital – this here's a patient of mine. We're just on our way back from a…" Alec let out a muffled curse as Cindy jabbed her elbow into his stomach while continuing to writhe, "…field trip."

"We'll let you get on with it." The Sector cop who had been slapped was regaining composure and waved Alec through the barriers being set up.

"Right, let's go!" Alec had Cindy practically off her feet now and hauled her quickly to the waiting Ford while she kicked at the air in a dramatic display of mental illness.

"I still love you, baby!" She screamed at the red-faced Sector cop before Alec shoved her head down and into the car with a loud order for her to 'can it'.

"What the hell was that?" Sketchy, sporting a pair of ridiculously oversized shades and a beanie with synthetic, egg yolk-colored hair, seemed to be nervous enough for all of them as Alec slid into the back seat alongside Cindy.

"Just shut up and drive, fool!" OC snapped, and Sketchy need no further prompting, throttling the gear stick and pulling out onto the open road.

"Terminal City?"

"Head for the highway – we gotta make a pit stop."

"Yeah, the mental health ward!" Alec quipped, but it was no joke and Cindy was fully aware of the X5s chronic disapproval, "_What the hell was that'_s about right…"

"Would you quit getting' all riled up-?" Cindy crooned calmly as Sketchy took a hairpin curve at 60 mph and his passengers swerved accordingly, "In case you missed the memo, Whitey Boy's no-pain-no-gainers just got busted!"

"You went public with the kidnap story, didn't you?" It was more of a statement then a question, and Alec's less-then-pleased glance in Cindy's direction had her rolling her eyes.

"What're you, H.J Scharff? Yes we went 'public' an' high time too, or they woulda been packin' your scrawny ass into six different body bags!"

"You think this is funny?" Alec raised his eyebrows and leant closer to OC (who made a point of nonchalantly avoiding eye-contact as she stared at the windshield), "Because lemme tell you who's gonna have to clean this whole mess up – _me_. And it's _not_ 'funny'!"

"You feelin' alright?" Cindy cast her normally happy-go-lucky associate a bewildered glance.

"No!" He responded tartly, "If you really wanna ask, I'm _not_ alright…"

"You shot?" Cindy queried in a low voice that was suddenly afraid, and the car swerved briefly at the words.

"Shot, Alec's _shot_?" Sketchy called in terror from the driver's seat.

"Cram it, Sketchy!" The rebuke came from both Alec and OC simultaneously, followed up by a sharp "Eyes on the road, pal!" from the former.

"I'm fine, just…" Alec closed his eyes and exhaled a calming breath while Cindy eyed him dubiously, "don't ever do that again."

"What, deck Queen Clownface?" Cindy smirked despite herself, "That was good fun, sugar."

"Yeah well good _fun_ doesn't always have to be a prelude to good_bye_." Alec narrowed his eyes at the road ahead, "Sketch, what you doing, man? Take a right – we gotta hit TC before the retrib gang comes knocking."

"Look this whole situation is really unnerving here, okay, so would you just let me concentrate?" Sketchy's quivering voice drifted back, and Alec bit back an endearing grin.

"Want me to take the wheel?"

"No I got it." Sketchy insisted with a furtive glance in the rearview mirror, "I just wanna make sure we're not being tailed, man! This whole Conclave thing is still sort of messing with my mojo."

"Yeah it's kinda their thing." Alec muttered, his grin still in place and anchoring Sketchy to a seabed of relative calm as he leant forward and rest an elbow on each of the front seat rims, "Okay, so where is it you _think_ we're going?"

"You're cute – you ain't _that_ cute." Cindy smacked the back of his head before continuing, "We just gotta swing by Logan's – man's got some major find he wants to ask us about."

Alec twisted to cast her disbelieving eyebrow-raise, "Are you shitting me? You can't go to Logan's; you'll bring every cop in the state crashing on your heels…"

"Only with _you_ in tow." OC seemed to have thought the situation through rather thoroughly, "S'why Sketchy here's gonna pull a right and swing by Sector Seven. You can find your own way from there, m'I right?"

Alec bit back a particularly vicious retort in favor of a mocking sniff and a smile aimed at his boots, "Yeah, okay you know what? Pull over the car."

"Say what?" Cindy demanded.

"Pull it over, Sketch, _now_."

"I'm _moving_!" Sketchy snapped into gear and pulled onto a shoulder in compliance with the sudden insistence in his ex-colleague's voice.

"Get out." Alec matter-of-factly slipped through his side door and stalked around the car as Sketchy mutely obeyed and Cindy flashed both men death glares, "I'm driving."

* * *

The belligerent drone of megaphones blaring out demands had long since faded into Max's subconscious as the security teams ensnaring TC continued to insist on masquerading diplomacy.

_While arming nukes on the sly. It would be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic_. Max rolled her eyes as she strode into the room where Molko was laboring over the snapshots of her runes, noting the way he jumped in surly discomfort as she did so.

"Time's up. What you got for me?"

"A whole lot of nonsense." Molko responded with a rigid glare as he reached up to hand her a sheet of worn, line paper packed full of illegible handwriting.

"Wow." Max raised her eyebrows with a less-then-impressed smile as she took in the scribbles, "Is that Polynesian?"

"No it's Geniusese." The young linguist groused as he shoved away from the table and pushed himself into a stand, "Fortunately I copied out a dummed-down version, so you should be able to figure this one out." He tapped two fingers on a second sheet of paper and slid it towards Max with a dramatic raise of his eyebrows.

She squinted at him, "Thanks."

"I'm fluent in Idiot." He countered with a dismissing wave of his hand that matched the sarcasm in the X5's tone, "So can I leave now? Cuz…the toxin levels in this place are…"

"Relax, we're heading out." Max folded both sheets of paper and tucked them away in the pocket of her jacket as she spoke, "Turns out the Conclave miss their favorite little snitch." She flashed him an acid smile, "They want you back."

To the nerdacious scientist's credit, Molko didn't flinch or tremble – merely nodded, "So that's it then. I help you and in exchange you hand me over to the people I spent years running from."

"Hold up. I thought you and the Conclave were BFFs." Max raised an eyebrow scrutinously as Molko scoffed sardonically.

"Yeah well you thought wrong, sweetcakes."

"How else do you explain the exemplary watchdog service?"

"You tell me! You're the ones who rang the bell by charging in on me without even the slightest regard for discretion!" He huffed, then rolled his eyes at Max's scowl, "Oh come on, don't even _try_ playing the offended card – the whole _world_ knows your faces now, you and 494…"

"His name is _Alec_." Max snapped the words with a defensiveness she would have found alarming had she not chalked it up to her X5 colleagues current state of captivity.

"Whatever. Point is you're big names in the big game, sister," Molko raised his eyebrows petulantly, "and like it or not, you're gonna have to suck it up. Just like I have to suck up the fact the Conclave's got a ream of nasty deaths to pick from when it comes to their agenda for my near future."

Max flinched at the words, her face stiffening with sudden conflict at the truth to the man's sentiment. If she handed Molko over to the Conclave, they would likely have him meticulously skinned and boiled then fed to one of their psychotic reptile friends as chow…

But if she didn't hand him over…it would be _Alec_ in the hole.

Max almost lurched at the dreadful fear that pierced her heart like a knife at the thought. She was beginning to have serious doubts about her capability to make a professional decision in this case…

And she had no idea why.

"Get up." Max ordered quietly, and Molko complied with the resignation of a saint to the stake.

"Fine – but just have them put on my tombstone 'He hath done what he could' or some such sentiment…" Molko winced as Max shoved him towards the exit.

"Just get a move on, Oscar Wilde."

* * *

The warehouse was humid with stale, lukewarm air being pumped into its tin enclosure, with lime-green lightbulbs flickering dismally in neon streaks down the arching roof.

Max's eyes were scanning the rafters for possible calamity. She couldn't detect any life forms besides the three Conclave members standing austerely before her – still, that didn't mean they weren't looking to spring a mean one on her.

The head Priestess, clad in a pinstripe business suit and sporting a relatively normal skin tone (which almost rendered her unrecognizable), nodded politely at Max as the X5 halted her confident stalk to cross her arms a few feet off.

"452. I see you've already chosen to violate our predefined terms."

Max's bland, almost bored expression spoke volumes regarding her interest level in the woman's reprimand, "Relax, you'll get your pound of flesh – soon as I see for myself Alec's alive and not sporting one of your pretzel worm designs in his skin."

The priestess' eyes flickered to one of her two male escorts for a fraction of a second before she focused on Max once more, "You're in no position to making demands. Give us what we came for and we'll return the favor – no holds barred."

"See that's gonna be a little difficult for me," Max began to pace slightly to her left while wearing a sardonic squint, "taking into account the fact that _my_ guy already bounced on your asses and _your_ guy?" Max paused and raised a satisfied eyebrow, "Well let's just say he isn't all that keen on being one of your _guys_ after all."

The priestess took a menacing step forward though her neutral expression remained pasted with the super glue of her precaution, "I would strongly recommend you hand Reese Molko over to our custody before things take a turn for the worse."

Max's eyebrows arched briefly and she shrugged, "Your call." Without waiting for a response, she slugged the priestess in the nose, knocking her to the ground and launching a roundhouse kick into the first Conclave male who was already springing to attack.

"Hate to be a party pooper, boys," Max cooed as both men circled her with fierce eagerness in their eyes, leaping in unison only to have their attack thwarted as she somersaulted backwards and landed in a crouch behind a heavy table which was subsequently thrown at the still mid-air opponents, catching them in the chest and pinning them under its weight.

"But I'm already out after curfew." Max didn't waste time gloating as she blurred to the exit door behind her and wedged it shut after she had breezed through it.

Max had barely shoved the heavy wooden bolt into place when she felt her shoulders being grabbed. Whirling around and preparing to attack, she relaxed instantly at the sight of Alec.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The question was belted out in unison by both X5s, as was its subsequent response.

"Saving your ass, that's what."

"What?" Max had the good grace to smother her complete incredulity in a blanket of practicality as she ran with Alec to where his bike was parked alongside her own.

"Where's Lab Geek?" Alec demanded, his eyes glued over his shoulder at the rattling of the exit door as they both straddled their motorbikes.

"Halfway to Canada by now. Come on, we gotta hit the road!" Max revved her Ninja to life and pulled out a heartbeat before Alec as they put the warehouse (and its enraged hostages) in their rearview mirrors.

* * *

"I'm just sayin', we gotta accept the fact that Max and Alec might be sittin' this one out."

Tank sighed heavily through his nostrils as he cast a clenched-jaw glare out the window at the helicopters circling TC before aiming a second scowl at Mole's rifle-loading.

"Either way, initiating conflict isn't gonna give us any kind of edge!"

"Sure as heck it'll wipe out their first line o' defense and give us better freaking odds." Mole's ruthless determination to be the first one to strike was becoming increasingly difficult to rein in. Tanker and Mia had even allied in a combined effort to quell the nomalie's dogged warmongering – with little success.

Stalling was _not_ Tanker's specialty. But the X5 did have other weapons up his sleeve.

"Okay, you know what, man?" Tank blew out a breath of resignation as Mole gazed stonily up from his gun loading, "You're right."

Mole nodded curtly, "Glad to hear it."

"Mmm hmm?" Tanker smiled cheerily…

…Shortly before slamming the butt of the rifle he had been totting into Mole's face with sufficient force to render the nomalie unconscious.

Tanker tossed the rifle onto the table and turned as Mia hovered in the doorway.

"You're gonna wanna see this." She paused and winced at the sight of Mole's deadweight frame sprawled at Tanker's feet, "What happened?"

"Oh come on, sweetheart, you of all people know about narcolepsy." Tanker quipped grouchily with a wink as he strode hurriedly past the woman and into the makeshift headquarters of TC.

"What happened now?" He froze at the news bulletin flashing across the grainy screen of Luke's laptop, "Turn it up."

"…news of a shocking cover-up by the US government in an attempt to vilify the newly-emerged transgenic species. CNN has first-hand accounts from the victims of the Jam Pony hostage situation which occurred a little over a month ago and which, according to their interview, has been highly misconstrued."

Dix let out a faint whistle as Sketchy and OC appeared on the screen, speaking at a news conference which could only have taken place within the past hour or so and had all the makings of such.

"There are a lot of government conspiracies that go on around us every single day." Sketchy looked flushed but bright-eyed, evidently glowing with the chance to finally voice his viewpoint on events such as September 11th, the bombing of the Pentagon, and the death of Elvis Presley, "I know this because I myself have been a victim of their desire to mask the truth – but the truth is out there, people! And right now, it's about to blown into oblivion by the taskforce stakin' out Terminal City, which was quarantined so they could _level_ it!"

"Kid's got a brass set." Dix murmured in approval as the full account of what really went down at Jam Pony proceeded to come forth.

Tanker was the only viewer looking grimmer then ever as the news feed rolled on, "Max and Alec are gonna be _pissed_."

Mia frowned reprovingly, "How come? Sketch and Cindy just saved our butts!"

"Yeah by sticking their _own_ in the firing range." Tanker raised his eyebrows with a brief, sarcastic smile at his compadre, "And trust me when I say I know first-hand that they_ are _gonna be_ pissed_."

"They're pulling back!" Kid's voice, high with the ecstasy of his message, pinged jubilantly through the room, "The troops, the troops are pulling back!"

"Not already, they're not." Tank sidestepped Mia and brushed a hand over Kid's hair subconsciously as he jogged to the wall and kicked off a side beam to leap the meters , "It's gotta be something else."

Sure enough, the helicopters had backed off and were hovering a good few meters off, as though awaiting pending orders. The ground troops were static, buzzing with apparent confusion as their radios crackled and the long-coated leaders exchanged muffled words.

Tanker glanced at the X6 closest to him and waved at the young man's gun, "I want everyone on standby until they make a move."

"Yes, sir." The youth flicked the safety on his weapon and turned swiftly on his heel to pass the order on, leaving Tanker rolling his eyes and muttering about Mini-Manticores and motherfucking karma.

* * *

Ames White snorted in fuming disbelief at the newscast blaring from the TV set in his office and turned to his closest minion, "Tell those troops to open fire on Terminal City. NOW!"

The butch, Arian meathead pulled out his radio only to be struck from behind with the metal lock from the door to White's office, crumpling to heap at Max's feet as she stepped over him without missing a beat.

"I don't think that's gonna happen."

"When will you transgenic _filth_ get it through your skulls?" White didn't appear daunted by the sudden interrupted – only repulsed by Max's presence as they began to circle each other ever so slowly, "You lost. It's over. Accept your fate and deal with the fact that you were never meant to have existed in the first place."

Max kicked the fallen Familiar's radio aside as muted voices crackled over the line, her fists balled loosely by her chest and her eyes trained sharply on Ames White, "Kinda prefer bein' alive, if that's alright by you."

"It's not." White's face was frozen with icy hatred, fingers splayed ever so slightly as his hands drew up in preparation for attack.

"Yeah well tough fucking break." Alec's tone rang with pragmatic mockery as his gun butt slammed into the back of the Familiar's skull and knocked him to the ground.

Max cast a final expression of disdain at the unconscious man before snatching up the radio and handing it to Alec, who accepted it and held it to his lips.

"All units, stand down, I repeat, stand down. You are to clear the area immediately."

"Copy that, sir. All units standing down." The response was a slightly bewildered confirmation of orders hissing through the static of the line. Alec shrugged at Max with all the swagger of victory – a front which quickly slipped as he witnessed the eyes with which she was staring down at White.

"Max, let it go."

Her cheeks twitched with the tension in her jaw, eyes tight and stony as she remained motionless.

"Every time I do, someone close to me gets hurt."

Alec swallowed at the bitter truth voiced by his normally merciful friend and switched his grip on the gun in his hand, extending the weapon's handle towards Max.

"Alright then," His green eyes, ringing with a silent meaning, met Max's chocolate orbs, "_Don't_ let it go."

She held his gaze steadily, face set like a flint and a coldness in her eyes that Max rarely wore on her sleeve so freely as she did just then.

White stirred and moaned at their feet. Radio traffic punctured the pregnant silence.

Max's eyes fell, hiding from Alec's earnest gaze under the lock of brown hair that she untucked from her ear as she turned her head away.

"We should leave before Olaf over there comes to. I've kicked enough Conclave ass for one day."

Alec's lips pursed as he tucked the gun into his jacket and clapped a hand on Max's slim shoulder.

"It's its own reward, Maxie. He'll never stop running now the cards are on the table."

"Then he'll finally know how it feels." Max stated quietly, and to Alec's surprise she didn't shrug his hand off her arm – and to Max's surprise, Alec didn't clear his throat awkwardly when she reached up and squeezed the ungloved tips of his fingers with her own ever so briefly.

"We should go."

Three words spoken in unison procured the absent discomfort which had been dormant up until that point. Alec's hand dropped along with Max's as they turned and stalked purposefully away from the man whose hatred for their race would now be the sole fuel of his suddenly bleaker future.


	12. Chapter 12

**_Happy 2010, all y'all! Holidays more or less blew this end of the globe (spent the New Year countdown trapped in a frigging restaurant bathroom) but at least IT'S ALL OVER :D. Anyhow, here's more eye-chow for you. Review and l8ers._**

**_-- Tyler_**

* * *

"Answer's no." Tank stated flatly, arms crossed defiantly over his chest, "Not a snowball's chance in hell."

"Well we have to do _something_!" Mia protested, apparently immune to the X5's disdain for her new cause, "I mean maybe _you_ don't think that it's important…"

"Maybe I don't think it's _important_?" Tank scoffed in what was evidently great offence, "I know Alec better then _anybody_, alright? He's the closest thing to a brother I got- you don't think I want him to be happy?"

"Well it doesn't seem that way." Mia stated condemningly, and Tanker rolled his eyes, glancing cautiously over his shoulder before leaning in closer.

"If it was anyone but Max, then trust me – I'd be all for it. But _Max_? Really? She and Alec are like opposite poles on a map!"

"Exactly! They meet halfway."

"You…" Tank flustered out a grunt before stabbing a finger at the befuddled psychic, "Max is _not_ what Alec needs, okay? She's not the Juliet to his Romeo, she's not the Zeus to his Roxanne…"

"If we don't get Max and Alec's underlying tension sorted out," Mia seemed to have chosen the course of ignoring Tanker's entire spiel, "the problem's only gonna escalate."

Tank's eyebrows furrowed incredulously, "I think we got bigger fish to fry here, don't you?"

Mia sighed long-sufferingly (an emotion synonymous with 'patronizingly' in both Tank and Alec's hive mind and therefore offensive), "You _really_ need to sort out your priorities. Max and Alec are the ruling clan members here; everybody knows it and everyone can see that they'd work better as a team."

"They _are_ a team." Tank groused, "And as for 'everybody'?" He raised his eyebrows, "We got our _own_ sex lives to sort out."

Mia quirked an eyebrow comically and the male X5's face crumbled into a muddle of confusion.

"Uh…I didn't mean…uh well you know you're hot 'n all that, but…"

"It's okay, I get it." Mia patted him sweetly on the shoulder, "You've got bigger fish to fry." She stalked past Tanker as he locked his jaw and cast a seething inward glare at himself.

"You just concentrate on saving our hides!" Mia called breezily over her shoulder even as he opened his mouth to speak, "I'll focus on actually _keeping_ them in the clear."

He sucked at his cheeks and began to mutter, "Turns out Alec wasn't far wrong about…"

"I heard that!" The high-pitched, still-cheery remonstrance echoed down the staircase, and Tanker rolled his eyes.

_Women_.

His thoughts were interrupted by the thrum of a bike engine and tires crunching concrete just outside the building. He turned and darted outside, skidding to a halt just as Max pulled up with Alec in tow on the back of her Ninja.

"What took you so long?" Tank had all the bearing of an angry parent as he began to berate his friends, and Alec grinned at the endearing fact.

"Got rained out." Max seemed far more composed then recent days had seen the woman as she swung off her ride and Alec followed suit, "Plus someone broke up the party, so…we bailed before they called the cops."

"This isn't funny, where've you been?" Tanker demanded in a flat tone as Max pulled up her shades and Alec clapped him the shoulder.

"Relax man, we were just gettin' the calvary here off our backs." Alec motioned to the helicopters hovering over TC as they began to pull away, "Talk about constipated order enactment."

"Least it proves there's still a little uncorrupted civil authority left to call off the charge." Max smiled to herself before nodding at Alec, "You think Molko got out okay?"

"Sure, you said so yourself – Logan hooked him up with some papers and shipped him off to the frozen north." The male X5 sniffed and waved a hand at Mole, who had just emerged looking severely pissed off and rubbing his forehead, "Call'em off the walls, man. Nobody's gonna take a shot."

"Oh yeah, says who?" Mole tilted his head sardonically.

"Says Congress." Alec seemed more then a little chuffed with the whole turn-out as dusk-prompted snowflakes began to dribble gently from the sky, "See, the Jam Pony team went national with their honest account o' what happened and it turns out Normal actually had some footage going to beef up the story."

Max paused at the unfamiliar piece of information and turned to Alec skeptically, "Say what?"

His clandestine smirk appeared slowly as he responded, "Yeah, apparently Normal had some kinda security camera system tappin' out Jam Pony to uh promote vigilance or somethin', I dunno." He raised his eyebrows and his smirk widened, "Why, Maxie, you uh catch some action or something? You know, a lil' quickie under the table with that Rafer dude…"

"Shut up." Max's slug to the gut was as solid as her response as she brushed past the crowd of men surrounding her, "I'm gonna take a shower."

Tanker's hand on her shoulder halted her in her tracks, "Neither of you are going anywhere until we get a decent synopsis here. What exactly happened with Molko and the Conclave?"

"Oh I was long gone before he showed up so," Alec clapped his hands together, "Max got the edge."

"So lemme get this straight." Tanker tilted his head judiciously and stabbed an index finger skyward to enunciate his point, "Alec here got broken outta hold by a couple of those bike messengers involved in the hostage situation a month back…"

"They mean a little more then that to some of us." Max interjected stiffly, and Alec's turgid silence clearly bred consent as Tanker batted the issue aside impatiently.

"Sure. Anyway, he got busted out, but didn't bother showing his face in Terminal City because he _somehow_ caught wind of your little exchange plan with the Conclave." The male X5 raised his eyebrows at Max, "I got it right so far?"

"Somethin' like that." She stated, arms folding and face blanking with just enough stone to put the rest of the stay-by-the-stuffers on edge.

Mole gnawed the end of his cigar, "Something you're not tellin' us here, Maxie?"

Max's eyes shifted to the ground before focusing determinedly ahead of her, "You know everything _we_ do. Deal bounced and so did we. All there is to it."

"Yeah right." Tanker asserted with a shifting of his shoulders as Max attempted to side-step the crowd only to find them impervious to her evasive body lingo, "Max, what is going on?"

"Maybe she doesn't wanna spill, you ever stop to think that one through?" Alec's hand on Tanker's bicep had the X5 on edge at once.

"Can we talk someplace?" Tank suggested neutrally with a nod in the direction of one of TC seedy alleyways, and Alec seemed eager to comply as Max beat the scene and the two men headed a ways off from the crowd.

Tanker's hands were on his hips and hiking the edges of his jacket upwards as he and Alec stepped aside.

"So what's the deal?"

"Nothin', just uh a little showdown with White."

"With White?" Tanker raised his eyebrows and Alec nodded obligingly, "Take it that didn't end too well for him."

"Uh well yes and no – point being," Alec clapped a hand across his shoulder, "Max should fly under the radar for a while until things blow over."

"Oh, this speech again?" The second X5 scoffed, "See I thought we were _done_ with your whole 'Max the China Doll' trip here…"

"Yeah well keep stirring up the dregs, you'll find it's a bottomless pit."

"Look, you really wanna help Max out, why don't you start with securing her a future that doesn't end in _blood_?"

"Whose _blood_ are we referring to?"

"Guys!" Max's snapped interjection had both X5s jumping ever so slightly, though their eyes never left each other as she stood with folded arms at the entrance of the alleyway.

"Got somethin' you wanna say to me, just spit it out." Max was wearing a stony expression that she hoped conveyed at least a _small_ portion of the anger she was feeling at being discussed as though she were the child of two parents quibbling over discipline issues.

"Just wondering when you're gonna start pulling your own _weight_ again…"

"Alright, _enough_!" Alec snapped, so suddenly and so viciously that Max felt her own snide being dramatically overshadowed all of a sudden.

"No, let him get it out of his system and say it to my face." Didn't mean she was going to let the chance for an air-clearer slide, however. Max was about an inch off from ticking off a _very_ long list of things she would (possibly) regret.

"No, you know what? This whole damn thing is ridiculous, okay?" Alec had a grip on her shoulder (and Tanker's, she noticed) and was steering them both further down the alley as Kid hovered anxiously at the entrance, "Now listen up, the _both_ of you," Alec's emphasized words stifled the ones about to exit Max's lips as they parted in protest, "We just got out from under the Conclave's freaking thumb here, alright, I think it's time we goddamn _celebrated_ instead of snapping at each other's throats!"

Max's arms remained crossed and the ice on her face spoke louder then any scathing remark she could've unleashed just then. Tank's jaw was set and his eyebrows were knit into a scowl of disapproval.

Alec let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly attempting to decide what to do with his fellow X5s', "Okay look…"

"Why don't we just forget the whole thing?" Max interrupted, the sudden weariness that weighed on Alec outranking the anger in her core, "You're right, I mean…we did just off our biggest enemy. Celebrations are in order."

"Sure." Tank's tight-lipped response suggested he was forcing out compliance but still producing it nonetheless, "Sorry, Max."

"Back at you."

It was lame and insincere, but it was the best Max and Tanker could come up with right at that moment, and much to the former's relief Alec appeared willing to roll with it.

There was a party to whip up.

* * *

"Fenestol."

The broad-backed older man let out a breath of nicotine, hunched slightly with the slim telephone pressed to his ear by an assistant.

"Brother White." The voice was sickly-sweet and insincere, almost a snarl in its own right, "How very kind of you to call. We've been worried – all these headlines are _very_ upsetting."

"452 has temporarily shifted the limelight, we can still take them out." White snapped insistently down the line, and the second Familiar sighed heavily.

"Ames…really. I took you for a man of practicality, not impulsiveness. The girl will come to us – all we need do is spring a suitable trap with an alluring bait, and we draw the rat right out of her hole in the wall."

"452 is still our objective, then?" White seemed ruthlessly pleased with the notion.

"Of course." His fellow Familiar responded, "Why allow this minor setback in our public relations to dictate when and how we strike? Time is running out, Brother White. The Coming waits for no man. And we must be ready."

"We will be." White replied determinedly, "452 will be eliminated, along with mankind's only hope for escaping their judgment."

"And the world will be ours." Another whiff of smoke coiled from the lips of White's superior, "Keep a low profile for the time being, Brother White. You will be contacted."

The call was terminated.

White could wait.

* * *

"No, Mr Yamaguchi, I hadn't factored that into the equation…careful with that, it's Special Delivery!" Normal cupped a hand briefly over the receiver to yell out a remonstrance at Sketchy as he traipsed by with a package dangling carelessly over his shoulder, "Yes of course I'm listening to you, Sir, I just don't understand…well I don't know, Chang…can I call you 'Chang'?"

"My oh my." O.C shook her head with a rabid smirk at her flustered boss, "Never did Original Cindy think she'd see the day when Jam Pony went national. Who said bad publicity is better then none at all, cuz they was right on."

"I'm not sure if I agree." Sketchy adjusted his beanie and balanced the special delivery package with his free hand nervously, "Normal's gotten like twenty times more antsy since this whole kidnap thing. It's driving me nuts."

"_You_ already nuts." Cindy informed him matter-of-factly, folding her arms over her chest and nodding at their employer, "Question is what's Normal think is gonna happen when Jam Pony goes national? I mean this whole thing's gonna blow over in a year's time and then what?"

"Guess he figures a year's long enough to form a base of regular customers." Sketchy shrugged, "Hey can you cover for me for an hour? Got somewhere I need to be."

"Where is that exactly?" OC demanded, twisting around to pin her compadre with an eyebrow-raise and noting the gleam in his eyes.

"That is for me to know," He thumbed her a 50 dollar bill matter-of-factly, "and you to wonder."

Cindy accepted the note with a curious smirk as Sketchy ducked out of the door, bike and 'special delivery' in tow. She raised her eyebrows at the 50 in her hand.

"Man's runnin' some serious game."

* * *

Throbbing bass vibrated the rickety walls of Max's paper-thin apartment, and she cast another glance out the windowpane at the flashing strobe light blinking knowingly at her from the building across the street.

"You gotta come, Max!"

Max sighed and turned to face the eager-eyed Rait, who was hovering in her front room, practically dancing from foot to foot.

"Thanks but no thanks. I'm already up to my neck in work. If Alec and co. want to shimmy all night, that's their deal." Max turned back to her piles of semi-clean laundry and continued to fold her sweaters in an orderly fashion, prompting Rait to roll her eyes.

"You seriously _can't_ bail on this gig, Max – it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show the world that X5-452 can shake her booty like there's no tomorrow!" The young girl pleaded and then huffed at Max's stony eyebrow raise, "You know what, forget it. I did my duty, now I gotta jet and catch some action before Alec catches me out 'after curfew' and has a…"

"Curfew?" Max paused and raised her eyebrows at the girl, "_Seriously_?"

Rait nodded glumly, "Man's a tyrant. He's taken it upon himself to play surrogate brother and it's getting _really_…"

"Tell me about it." Max snapped in congruent irritation as she returned to forcefully folding her laundry, her expression knit into an incredulous scowl, "You know what's with his whole Mother Hen routine anyway? I mean if we wanted to be smothered we could just," She turned and spread her hands in frustration, "cocoon ourselves in a pile of _blankets_…"

"Whoa!" Rait cut her off with a wide-eyed wave of her hand, "No disrespect or anything but you are vibing off some _major_ estrogen! Are you in heat?"

"No!" Max growled at the very insinuation, "Of _course_ not!"

Rait's arching brows (and the steadily rising temperature of the supposedly chilly evening) had Max re-examining her stance on the matter.

"And even if I was," She smoothed over her ruffled countenance by tucking her hair behind her ears and attempting a composed posture, "that has _nothing_ to do with my irritation at Alec's actions…why am I even talking to you about this, shouldn't you be in bed, it's what, eleven thirty?"

"Twelve." Rait corrected smugly as she pulled on her Che Guevara jacket, "You should take a cold shower." She winked at the open-mouthed X5 in front of her as she slipped through the doorway, "See ya."

Max shook her head in complete bewilderment at the child's nerve before turning back to the mountain of clothing on the bed in front of her. Her skin was beginning to crawl with the sensations of her heat, but Max felt more or less confident that she had a lid on the situation.

A glimmer of diamante caught her eye and she knit her eyebrows as she pulled a slinky, backless shirt out from under a pile of faded jeans. A small smile curled at the corner of her lips and Max's eyes flickered to the window before balling the item in her fist and turning sharply on her heels.

* * *

"Max…nice." The large panther-like male at the door of the basement where the transgenics' celebrations were taking place pulled his lips back over his teeth in approval as Max stalked nervously onto the staircase.

"Thanks. You seen Alec around?"

"Come again?" He yelled over the blare of the drum and bass, and she rolled her eyes.

"Never mind!" Max threw the nomalie a smile before making her way down the packed stairway, side-stepping a veritable crowd of partying transgenics as she did so. The large room was packed to the brim with merrymakers, most gyrating on the dance floor but a great number congregating around the tables lining the room which had been converted into bar counters. Flashing, multi-colored lights blinked dizzily from their position dangling from the rafters, and large sets of speakers hoisted on ancient crates surrounded the basement and completed the effect.

People were there to have a good time. And somebody, somewhere had worked _very_ hard to ensure that they did. Max gazed in wonder at the seemingly endless supply of booze and decided to put thoughts regarding its origins out of her mind.

The collective amount of body heat humidifying the basement worked with her current state of being to bring beads of sweat to Max's hairline. She wiped at them anxiously and hurriedly worked her way through the crowd to find an unoccupied barstool. The black jeans she was sporting were hipsters, and Max was suddenly aware that the lacy hem of her underwear was on display. She rolled her eyes and pulled the bottom of her shirt further down her back.

"Can I get a beer?" Max called impatiently over the blare of the music, jumping suddenly as warm, whiskey-laden breath tickled the side of her neck and made her pores rise.

"Make that a Sunrise, Pax!" It was (of course) none other then Alec, scooting casually onto the barstool beside Max and wearing (along with a plain black T-shirt and Levis that did nothing for her self-resolve and everything for his figure) a token, though wan-looking, grin.

"No point wasting the opportunity to score a decent drink on your average lukewarm Bud." Alec slid the mixed drink he had just ordered Max towards her and raised his half-full whiskey glass, "To a free and unchained nation."

"For now." Max acknowledged the toast and clinked her glass with his before sipping it and trying to suppress the tension in her legs by crossing them with an air of resigned boredom, "Pretty impressive dig you managed to cough up here."

"Ah Tank did most of it." Alec half-turned in his seat, one elbow resting on the counter, to survey the room with a small measure of pride, "I just scored the speakers and the booze. Turns out a friend of mine who works in the freight business…"

"I don't wanna know." Max informed him indolently, taking a sip of her drink and leaning back in an effort to escape the male X5's scent. He smelled like clean clothes and hot showers and Old Spice cologne and _Oh god_… "So what's the deal with you and Rait? Kid seems pretty stuck under your thumb."

"Just paying respects to an old friend." Alec shrugged as he downed another swig of his whiskey and sighed in satisfaction at the aftertaste, "Kid was under one of my X5 pals back at Manticore for a year. She was riding your 'name the baby' trip as well, took Rait under her wing and was pretty tight with her."

Max frowned quizzically as the story seemed to abruptly cut with another gulp of Alec's drink, "What happened?"

"She died in the fire." He emptied his glass and set it down sharply, "So, you here to catch some action…"

"Where the _hell_ would you get _that_ impression?" Max snapped viciously before he'd even finished his sentence, and Alec furrowed his eyebrows in surprised reaction.

"I dunno, you just…you look good, okay? Geesh," He eyed her as though she grown a second head while waving his glass at the bartender, "didn't know they sold Compliment Deflectors."

Max sank back, deflated and annoyed with herself. Her upset must have been plainly visible, because only a moment later, Alec was slapping the counter and steering her by the shoulders.

"Hey!"

"Gem's calling you over, go on!" He was, as usual, unfazed by Max's protests as he shoved her towards Gem, who was waving exuberantly at Max from the dance floor.

"Max, you look awesome!" The X5 woman cooed, her heavily-made up features, wide smile and flushed cheeks giving credence to the notion that nine month's abstinence from all things recreational was now being swiftly made up for.

Suddenly Gem blanched, "Oh my god…"

"You as well?" Max queried desperately, and Gem nodded.

"Didn't hit me full-on until I was already here." The latter grabbed Max's hand and led her through the crowd of dancing transgenics, "We gotta get outta here."

"Wait." Max froze determinedly, a sudden stubbornness taking over her.

"What?" Gem queried, wide-eyed and anxious to beat the scene. Max understood her trepidation, but for some unknown reason, she felt like taking a random stand.

"Why should we keep letting Manticore's twisted DNA insertions ruin all our shots at having a good time?" Max demanded indignantly over the blast of the half-busted speakers, "I mean, it's just the first hour, right?"

Gem nodded slowly with all the enthusiasm of a deer in a pair of headlights.

Max shrugged with a grin, "We can keep it in check."

* * *

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

Tanker's booming voice rang loud and clear as he shoved his way to the front of the circle that had gathered to make space for the vicious fight taking place on the dance floor.

Gem was slamming the pointed end of her stiletto heel into another X5 female who lay curled on the floor at her feet. Tank, with Alec at his back, let out a flabbergasted snort at the full-on cat fight (which, when it came to Manticore females, was far more deadly then your average girl-on-girl spat).

"Gem, chill out!" Alec was behind the woman in an instant, tucking his arms underneath her own and hauling her away, legs kicking in the air.

"You stay away from him, you bitch!" Gem screamed, and the X5 on the floor groaned and rolled onto her back, revealing a battered face and blood streaming from a badly broken nose.

"Great!" Tanker hissed in Alec's ear as he scooped the semi-conscious woman up in his arms and felt his manhood start to swell at the almost tangible pheremones emanating from the girl.

"They're in _heat_?" Alec glanced sharply at the crowd surrounding him, and his face became a picture of panic as he realized a truly terrifying number of the women in the basement had begun to display visible signs of heat and turn on the men closest to them – and each other.

"_All_ of them?" Tanker's expression began to mirror Alec's own as the latter released his hold on Gem and nudged his friend's arm.

"Come on!"

"Where are you going?" Tank huffed, an armful of female in tow as he hurried through the dancing crowd and after Alec, who was already leaping over the barrier to where the techies had set up camp.

"I'm nipping it in the bud!" Alec's yell came directly before a sudden shower of ice-cold water from the dormant emergency sprinklers on the roof. A few surprised shrieks filled the air but for the most part the crowd seemed pleased enough by the addition to the rave and continued on (in relative harmony, Tank note with relief).

"That's gonna hold'em for now but we've gotta put a stopgap on this whole party thing…"

"Alec!"

Both men jumped and turned at the small crowd of X5 women purring seductively at them, bodies glittering with a fine sheen of sweet-smelling perspiration and their cheeks flushed with the pang of desire…

"Shit, make a beeline!" Alec and Tank proceeded an unceremonious dash for the exit, a rusted-over hatch of a door that had to have both sets of broad shoulders and at least one good kick leveled against it before it gave.

"Quickly!" Tanker threw his weight against the door as it began to tremble and Alec hastily wedged a discarded metal pole into the handle and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Let's go!"

The two X5s ran in a mad blur around the corner, blending into the night shadows and evading the few females who had followed in pursuit. Backing onto the slippery pavement and tripping over an unconscious homeless man (who, Alec noted, really _shouldn't_ have been there), the men exchanged breaths of relief.

"Think we lost'em?" Tanker glanced around the deserted back alleyway, the flickering street light above their heads throwing his night vision off-whack, "Alec?" Turning sharply, he realized his friend was suddenly nowhere to be seen. Not even a hint of his ever having been there to begin with.

"Shit."

* * *

Alec was slammed against the freezing brick of a wall with enough force to jar his spine. Hands, slim yet ferociously strong, were pinning him in place and a mouth was sucking at his own with terrifying intensity.

Fuck. He'd been caught.

Alec tried to think, to determine a course of action, but his head was awhirl with the pheremones emanating from the female whose hands were gripping his collar and whose tongue was turning somersaults inside his mouth.

"Wait…" He croaked out the word desperately.

"Shut up." The response was snapped effortlessly, almost as though the rebuke lived almost constantly at the tip of her tongue.

Oh God…

"Max…" Alec could _not_ believe it. The brief moment of separation that Max had used to voice her biting command left no doubt in his mind (or his sight). Brown hair tossed askew, face flushed and chest heaving. Max's eyes were that of a predator relishing its first bite of its victim, and it was all Alec could do to shove at her shoulders and send her stumbling back.

"Max, you don't know what you're doing…"

He was slammed, hard enough this time to procure a wince, back in place. She was right up in his face, all attitude and bravado and irritation.

"Do me a favor? Keep the commentary to a minimum – it's kinda throwing me off."

"Whoa!" Alec hissed out the word as Max shoved him onto the cold, snow-sprinkled ground, her legs already straddling his pelvis which evoked an involuntary arousal on Alec's part and had him struggling to sit up, to end this before it went too far and became _yet_ another elephant in the room between him and Max.

"Max, listen to me. We can't do this…"

"I told you to shut up!" She bit out, gripping the front of his t-shirt and slamming him onto his back once more as her other hand worked his belt and zipper. Alec's head had hit the pavement along with his back and he tried to blink back the stars in his vision as he felt his jeans and boxers being slid sharply down his hips.

He had to get her off him, get out of there, salvage the situation. It was his responsibility as the more coherent of the two to take charge.

A well-timed head-butt would do the trick. Sure, it would be a bitch to pull off and Alec would feel like shit about it, but his wrists were sort of pinned under Max's knees right then.

Alec struggled to focus as his t-shirt was torn down the front and Max's mouth was closing around his nipples, licking, biting, sucking…setting his skin on fire with the kind of longing he'd never experienced.

Generally because he did his best to avoid transgenic females in heat. It was sort of a…moral no-could-do.

Max continued to assault his torso with her mouth while keeping one hand pinned against Alec's shoulder, securing him in place. As she kicked off her jeans and straddled his hips once more, Alec's nerves exploded in a supernova of desire akin to the feral instinct overpowering the X5 inside whom he had suddenly entered.

Caution – and the hand shoving forcefully against his shoulder – was thrown to the wind.


	13. Chapter 13

**_No excuses - just apologies. I still have every intention of finishing this fic. And it's not that a dozen other unfinished ones are distracting me either. That's not how the Tyler rolls. Just moved in with the boyfriend...nuff said I hope :( ? Leave me love nonethless. -- Tyler_**

* * *

Dawn broke over Terminal City, bringing with it the promise of heavy snow hanging thick in the dark grey clouds that shrouded the skies.

Silence – akin to that of the infamous 'morning after the night before' – buzzed louder then all the usual din and clamor that begun with the sunrise in the transgenic bio-haven.

Cold – bone-chilling and numbing – pervaded the air, piercing the paper-thin window panes and rotting wooden floorboards of the abandoned-then-reclaimed residences.

Tears – as cold and as silent as the winter's morning – streaked unobtrusively down the young transgenic's face.

Alec had left with the sun…

_More like fled for his life_.

Max blinked slowly and another tear slipped quietly out from her eyelid and down the bridge of her nose as she remained curled on her side. She resisted the urge to leap out of bed and make for her motorbike, to blaze as far and as fast as time would allow from the scene of her complete misery and utter disgrace.

_Wouldn't make it past the gates without jumping some poor unsuspecting X5 man-flesh. _

Max _hurt_. She knew pain – the burn of a bullet lodged in her flesh, the sharp anguish of damaged nerve endings and the dull, relentless throb of a broken, unset bone.

But this pain went deeper. The soreness ran through every muscle; the bruising, Max knew, smattered almost every inch of skin.

The ache was more psychological then anything else.

Max was wearing her trusty blue bathrobe, and her blankets were comfortably arranged over her – almost as though she had been tucked in as opposed to shoved off the chest of the friend who had made a beeline for it first chance he got.

_That would just be the icing on the goddamn cake_. Max shook her head and cradled her pillow as she buried her face in its warm forgetfulness, _Alec making sure I was __covered__ enough before he limped off home to nurse all the __contusions__ he's probably covered in. _

Her pillow smelled like musk cologne and whiskey.

Max groaned and rolled over onto her other side, "Damn it."

A long, hot shower and a fresh change of clothes later, and she felt closer to calm, though no less disgusted with herself. A thick black turtleneck and padded waistcoat worked their darndest to cover the smattering of hickeys, bites and bruises dotting Max's torso and neck. Transgenics were passionate creatures when it came to mating and generally had to exercise a tremendous amount of restraint when it came to intercourse with the comparatively fragile Ordinaries. But when it came to sex with fellow transgenics…

Max didn't even want to know how _Alec's_ skin was looking right then.

The snow was billowing in the freezing breeze buffeting her window pane, and Max hastily threw on her fur-lined jean jacket, pulled on a pair of biking gloves and laced up her boots.

Her pager beeped before she even reached it, and Max squinted at the number before flipping open her phone and punching in the speed dial.

"Me hittin' you back."

"Just wanted to congratulate you. Saw the headlines last night but I didn't wanna call you in the middle of any celebrations going on." Logan swiveled in his computer chair and balanced the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he hit a few buttons on his keyboard.

"Yeah, it was a blast." Max stated quietly before hastily switching topics, "So what about you? Still lookin' for a crib?"

"Actually, the S1-W hooked me up with a bachelor pad just a block from my old penthouse. It's…not exactly the Waldof Astoria, but…"

"It's better then termites and flea-bitten flooring, I imagine." Max smiled briefly at the recollection of Joshua's less-then-pleasant former lodgings.

"Yeah, well…tell Josh thanks for letting me crash there anyhow." Logan sounded distant, reminiscent – almost sad.

"Everything alright?" Max queried.

"Yeah, it's just…Asha's mother disappeared recently and I'm trying to help turn up some leads, but so far nothing solid's showing on the radar screen."

"Is there anything I can do?" Max's heart sank as low as her tone at the despondent news. It just served as yet another reminder that bad things happened to good people.

"Was hoping you'd ask."

"What do you need?"

"Actually that was sarcasm. I was hoping you'd leave off the Caped Crusader act long enough to figure out what's going on with your seizures, if there's any connection with the runes."

"I got no idea what you're talking about." Max clamped up, her voice going stony along with her expression. She hadn't mentioned a word to Logan about _seizures_.

"Thing is I _do_." He sounded equally as tense, "They've been getting worse, haven't they, Max? The shaking, the headaches, the blurred vision."

"I'm _fine_."

"Notice any unusual bouts of psychosis, premonitions, anything like that?"

"Actually yeah, had this vision of you gettin' your _nose_ broken for sticking it in places it wasn't supposed to go!" Max _hoped_ she sounded angry. It would certainly be an accurate diagnosis of her current state of mind.

_Logan_ certainly sounded angry, "I doubt I have to remind you you're humanity's only hope for surviving whatever White and his breeding cult have got up their sleeves for the world."

"Call me if you need any help with Asha's case." Max ended the conversation abruptly before hanging up her cell and stalking swiftly out of her apartment.

She has barely gotten to her Ninja, breath visible in the freezing air before her, then she realized she was not alone.

"Hey Max."

Max caught herself before she jumped, glancing over her shoulder and eyeing Kid up and down.

"S'up."

"Where you goin'?" He queried, and Max turned back to her bike with a smile.

"Why, you on the hustle again?"

"I was just hoping…you know, now everything's taken care of here, that maybe…" The child licked his dry, cracked lips nervously, "That maybe you would like to rescue the rest of my unit."

Max paused and narrowed her eyes at the realization that Ames White was actually, for once, the underdog in the new and unfamiliar situation. The time to strike in regards to the captured transgenic children was certainly ripe.

But she _needed_ to be alone.

"Talk to Alec." Max kicked her bike to life and blazed a trail out of TC, ignoring the gate men's questioning expressions as she jumped the ramp that she and Alec had set up for their motorcycles when a runner needed to be pulled.

_Why is __everything__ around me just slapping me in the face with Alec, Alec…_

"Alec?!"

Max swerved her bike just in time to avoid it jack-knifing on her at the sudden brake she was forced to pull as none other then X5-494 pulled briskly out in front of her.

"Gotcha!" He cackled in triumph, and Max glared so hard she attributed the violent flushing of her face to the anger she was feeling (as opposed to the embarrassment she was repressing).

"Get outta my way." She revved impatiently at her accelerator, her skin practically crawling with the conflicting desires to jump the man or to leave a tire mark across his face. The pressure was almost akin to internal combustion.

"Figured you'd be pullin' a runner first thing in the morning…" Alec began in a colder tone that in no way matched his previous (and clearly farcical) glee.

"Around you or over you, Alec, what's it gonna be?" Max snapped.

"…and I just wanted to make sure you weren't gonna bail before we got a chance to talk about what happened!" He insisted over her mordant interruption with an equal bite to his tone.

_Christ__ he's pissed_. Max didn't know why the notion made her heart sink into her gut. Perhaps it was because a small part of her had hoped that Alec would deal with the situation in the sympathetic manner he had been manifesting over the past few weeks.

"I got nothing to say to you." Max floored her engine and pulled a daring swerve, lurching her bike around Alec's and heading sharply for the side road she often took to avoid traffic (and vigilantes)…and in this case, X5-494.

Max's short moment of freedom didn't last long. As she rounded a corner and pulled into slow gear at the sight of a stop light, she narrowed her eyes from behind her yellow-tinted shades.

There, standing beside a shabby, derelict apartment building and conversing nervously with a black-suited man, was none other then Sketchy.

Max squinted and adjusted her pupils to focus closer on the exchange, "What the hell is he doing?"

She watched as Sketchy handed over a plastic yellow folder procured from his shoulder bag and accepted the hefty wad of cash the suit was handing him.

Max rolled her eyes at Sketchy's unfailing knack for trouble.

"Idiot."

* * *

"Hey so I really appreciate you doing this, man." Sketchy offered with an eager grin as he stuffed the rolled-up bills he had been given into the pocket of his padded waistcoat, "That there is a first-hand account regarding life as a hot young transgenic living on the lam."

"And you're sure this is Max Guevara's personal autobiography?" The shady-looking publisher raised his eyebrows suspiciously at the hand-written scrawl on the pages in his hand.

"Hundred percent, dude. Cross my heart." Sketchy raised a palm with all the sincerity he could muster, "Got the whole thing on Dictaphone then transcribed it all myself, and lemme tell you, that took long enough…"

"Any chance you still have the recording?" The agent queried tentatively, "It's our policy to…"

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"Max!" Sketchy jumped at the enranged query voiced directly behind him as Max veered around him and snatched the folder out of the agent's hand while casting wide, deadly eyes at Sketchy.

"_This_," She waved the file at him, "is _forgery_, not to mention stupid! Do you realize how badly I should kick your ass for this?"

"Okay so this is awkward." The bike messenger mumbled anxiously, beads of sweat already gathering on his hairline as he turned hastily to the publisher, "Mr Lenton, if you'd just let me ex…"

The agent's brisk jog had taken him around the corner and out of sight, apparently.

"…plain." Sketchy's mouth dropped in a crestfallen gape as he was left to face Max's wrath alone.

She wasn't gentle…or at least, she wouldn't have been if the flush hadn't crept into her cheeks and crawled under her skin again. Max found herself suddenly resisting the urge to sink her teeth into Sketchy's trembling lower lip and nearly hurled at the notion.

"Lucky for you I gotta bounce." Max managed to retain a fearsome edge as she tucked the folder her arm, "So I'll deal with you later." A sharp swat upside the head and she was on her way, heading for her bike as fast as her legs could carry her – leaving Sketchy to both curse his bad luck and praise his good luck.

After all, it could have gone a whole lot worse…

Or, unbeknownst to Sketchy, possibly a whole lot better.

* * *

The lock to Max's apartment twisted and clicked open compliantly, allowing the rotting plywood door to be pushed aside as the 6-plus foot genetically engineered soldier stalked inside, stepping over scattered clothing and a pair of ankle boots as he did so.

Alec scoured the surroundings with sharp green eyes to secure his location (force of habit) before heading straight for his target; Molko's file lying discarded on Max's rumpled bedding.

Alec paused briefly as her scent, which permeated the air around him and clung to every object in the room, assaulted his senses and brought back flashes, saturated with heat, to his mind.

Max's ankles wrapped around his neck…hands, delicate yet strong, gripping his gluts…teeth and nails and tongues and fingertips…

Alec closed his eyes tightly and shook the memories from his brain. He needed to focus. One slip-up had already cost him dearly and he had to remind himself that Max's wellbeing, not his own need to come to terms with his mistake, was the top priority right just then.

Cracking open the file, Alec's lips tightened together as he perused the scrawled translation Molko had drafted up for Max. It seemed the majority were excerpts of biblical passages (from the Book of Revelations, Alec deduced…at least he'd learned _something_ useful from R.E 101).

_The meek shall inherit the earth…_

_If there are any meek left __around__ by the time God passes on the title deed_. Alec shook his head and flipped the page. The tone of the passages began to change, moving from biblical to foreboding.

_The suffering of one will be the salvation of many. _

Alec tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as his brilliant green eyes continued to scan the page.

_Her pain to stir the power._

The X5's jaw clenched tightly and his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat.

_Her blood to cleanse the masses._

_

* * *

  
_

Max slammed against the grainy alley wall, her body trembling viciously and her eyes welling with unshed tears. Pain, searing and infinite, burned in her veins and she barely managed a fetal position as she hit the cement of the back alleyway.

"Hey." A young couple, barely out of their teens and clad in brightly-colored, ratty apparel, appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"You need some help?" The boy, eyes bright and face flushed, bent down and put a hand on Max's shoulder. He recoiled instantly.

"What is it?" His girlfriend queried frantically as he crouched down next to Max, who was still convulsing and breaking into a sweat.

"She's burning up. Could even feel it through her clothes. Call 911!" He handed the girl a quarter and waved her anxiously towards a payphone before turning back to Max, "You're gonna be okay, lady, just hang in there."

Max was very conscious of a smarting fear that she needed to beat the scene. It wasn't safe outside TC's walls. It wasn't safe _inside_ TC's walls.

It wasn't safe anywhere.

* * *

Logan stood by Max's bedside, as close as he could be while still maintaining a safe distance. If Max were awake, she would have told him he was already too close. Woman was just paranoid like that.

Logan glanced up at the doctor entering the room, clipboard in hand, "Dr Johnston – thank for coming."

"Don't mention it." The man smiled wanly, "Always willing to aid Dr Shankar in her efforts to fight the power."

"How's she doing?" Logan cast a worried glance in Max's direction, and Johnston shrugged.

"Perhaps you'd like to take a look at the results of her blood analysis." He handed Logan his clipboard, and the cyber hero's blue eyes tightened into slits at the file in his hand.

"The transgenic antibodies in Max's blood are mutating in some kind of supernova pattern. I've never seen anything like it." Johnston flipped a page and poked his pen at a section of the print, "See here? Whole strands of Max's DNA are basically _throbbing_."

"So what does it mean?" Logan glanced at the doctor and wished he hadn't sounded quiet so snappy. Johnston raised his eyebrows.

"Honestly? I have no idea – but with the temperature she's running," Here he shook his head dismally at the head of Max's hospital bed, "there's no way it can be good."

Logan's forehead creased anxiously at the sight of Max's damp, sweaty hairline, her pale skin and red, creamy eyelids.

"I think you're right." He forced out the words in a gravelly tone before lowering his eyes and waving the file at the doc, "Mind if I take a closer look at this?"

"Sure, so long as you don't take it out of the…" Johnston was cut off mid-sentence by a disgruntled security guard apparently launching threats at whoever had just shoved the door to the private hospital room open without a second thought.

"Excuse me, this is a private ward…" Johnston started forward matter-of-factlyy, but before Logan could get a word in edgewise, Alec had beat him to it.

"I'm with him." He stabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Logan, whose features tightened in displeasure but whose mouth had the good sense to refrain from voicing said sentiments. Instead he sighed and nodded grimly at Johnston's arched eyebrows, causing the doctor to wave the security guard out of the room (and harm's way, as Alec would likely have thumped the man had he continued to badger the somewhat rankled X5).

"How's she doing?" Alec turned to Logan with demand in his voice and on his features, causing a wave of something akin to anger to bristle through the Ordinary's nerves.

"Pretty good considering her DNA's _mutating_ itself! Why the _hell_ wasn't she already admitted?"

Alec's face hardened and he leant in to lower his voice in time Logan's, "Hey what do I look like, her father? Max isn't exactly cooperative when it comes to takin' care of herself – I mean, I had to _manhandle_ her all the way to NYC just to get her and Molko to play ball…"

"Um excuse me," Johnston's cough filled the minute lull in retort from Logan, "Are you…X5-494?"

"Nope, I'm Alec McDowell." The transgenic grinned coldly, "X5-494 woulda knocked your lights out for callin' him by his _designation_…"

"Alec." Logan reproved helplessly (the man had about two inches of height and a pair of Calvin Klein glasses on Alec…not much of a plus). Still though, for whatever reason, Logan's cautioning word had Alec at least attempting to rein in the testosterone as the latter turned and focused on Max's dilemma once more.

"You hear about Molko's translations on those runes o' hers?" Alec queried with an eyebrow-raise for Logan, and the Ordinary swallowed heavily.

"Tried to fish, but…" He shrugged his broad shoulders, "She wasn't exactly forthcoming."

"What, honesty in the face of death? Totally not her style." Alec responded dourly as he handed Logan the folded page procured from his pocket, "Take a look."

Logan nodded his thanks and perused the paper before his eyes met Alec's wordlessly.

Both men's faces were set into identical, deadpan expressions.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinking?"

"This is bad." Logan agreed, and Alec scoffed.

"You're tellin' me?"

"Whatever Sandman had in mind for Max, he knew exactly what he was doing with his timetable." Logan handed Alec Max's medical clipboard and the shadows on the X5's face deepened as he scanned the results, "Max's antibodies are mutating and her DNA appears to be turning somersaults."

"Why?" Alec glanced up sharply, scowl worsening at Logan's I-have-no-idea facial grimace, "Oh c'mon, Cyber Hero, all that headstuffing can't be good for nothing!"

"The closest thing I could compare something like this to would be sudden evolution, some kind of jump in the process, very rare but not impossible." Logan tightened his eyes at Alec's snort, "What?"

"Well no offence to Darwin and his theory of monkey-itis, but I'd like to see a single shred of proof to support the insane idea that if you shake a bunch o' lego in a jar for a million years it'll one day form itself into a car."

"You got any better theories to explain what you're seeing here?" Logan didn't seem overly offended by Alec's contempt for the Big Bang theory.

"Yeah." Alec stated flatly, "Some geek on a power trip juiced Max's DNA to go haywire at a certain point in her body's development. I mean, she was designed in a lab, Logie – if they can splice her with cat genes to make her jump a hundred feet, they can certainly whip up somethin' like this!"

"But why now, at this precise point in time?" Logan badgered, and Alec huffed frustratedly.

"I dunno, maybe cuz this Sandman guy had White and his creepy little buddies all sussed out. He was part o' the Conclave, right?"

"Seem that way, yeah." Logan nodded, "But how does that explain…"

"Look I don't know, okay? What I do know is that Max needs our help. Now what can we do?" Alec let the question hang in the pregnant air like a child unclaimed in favor of adopted expressions of helplessness which both men decided to don simultaneously.

Logan was the first to break the silence, "Seems like something majorly bad was being scheduled for lift-off ASAP, courtesy of the Conclave. Finding out exactly what Max is meant to stop might be a first step."

"No argument there." Alec shrugged in acquiescence before pausing at the deepening of crow's feet at the edges of Logan's stunning blue eyes, "What?"

"There's something you should know." The extraordinary Ordinary stated, evidently doing his best to filter the bite out of his tone, "About Max's condition."

Alec tilted his head sardonically, "What, besides the fact her insides are turning themselves into Paper Mache?"

"Johnston ran a complete diagnostics scan." Logan, in his usual fashion, ignored the X5's belligerence, "There's a decent chance she may be pregnant."

Alec blanched, raised and narrowed his eyes in sequence before rubbing a hand across his jaw and swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Say what?" He forced out in gravelly tone after clearing his throat.

"You heard me." Logan responded tersely, and the remonstrance at Alec's purported carelessness rang loud and clear in both tone and facial expression.

Alec inhaled deeply, shaking his head and pinching at the bridge of his nose with closed eyes before he opened them wide and stabbed a finger at Logan while turning away, "There's gotta be some mistake."

For Christ's sake, it was the morning after the night before. There was no way any medical software, no matter how advanced, would have been able to accurately suss out Max's natal condition. Not one freaking day after she'd been inseminated.

Unless it wasn't Alec's. But the tragically close proximity of Terminal City living and working conditions would certainly have alerted the X5 to the startling occurrence of Max actually stooping from her high horse to catch some action.

In layman's terms; Alec was the only thing besides a certain cherished Ninja 650 that had been between Max's legs since that Pizza Boy Whatever-His-Name-Was.

"It's a little too early for complete certainty…"

"It's too early, period!" Alec snapped, unable to retain his cool. Logan's brow set heavily.

"Max might be carrying a child inside of her on top everything else she's got going on, so I suggest that you stop living in denial and accept the possibilities for what they are!"

"Yeah? Well _I _suggest that _you_ get Max another frigging doctor who isn't gonna fabricate a bunch o' melodramatic findings just to rock the boat!"

"Johnston is one of the best medical professionals on the continent…" Logan began with a bristle in his voice.

"Um excuse me…" Johnston let out a cough to clear his throat, and Logan and Alec both responded in unison with the conventional and over-used "What?"

"In regards to Max's pregnancy, I said it was a _slim_ chance based on findings in her ovaries and womb. All we can do is wait on that one – but that doesn't change the facts. Max's body is going haywire and if something isn't done, there's no telling what the outcome could be."

"This is all already coded into her DNA; there's no way it could be stopped without serious danger to Max's system." Logan threw the facts out, cold and hard into the otherwise heated air around them, and Alec's jaw twitched while Johnston bit his lip and appeared to sink into deep thought.

"So what do you want me to do for her then?" He finally queried as he cast befuddled eyes at his unconscious charge propped up in the hospital bed.

Alec scowled at the words, "I dunno, take care of her perhaps? You know, make sure she doesn't start growing _tentacles_?"

"What _exactly_ is it that you think I can do to prevent this?" Johnston seemed to have finally had it with Alec's hyper-protectiveness, "If what Logan's saying is true, then _Max_ is the only one that can do _anything_ to stop or control whatever's going on inside her…"

_Inside her_

_Inside her…_

The words, ominous and foreboding, echoed dismally in the blurry swirl of Max's sub-consciousness. She could hear every word being spoken, had ingested the entire debate between the three men, could even picture the hazy outline of Alec's broad shoulders and Logan's trim torso in her peripheral vision.

Her veins burned – bubbled even. Max wanted to scream with every fibre of her being, but was unable to even part her dry, chapped lips. Pain racked her body, a rake scraped at her gut and a cleaver diced at her brain.

There was something strangely purifying about it. Max wasn't sure whether the sudden rush was pleasure or pain, but it brought with the strangest orgasm of energy coursing through her entire system. As though the puzzle had been almost complete but missing one key piece, or the machine had been fully functional but turned to a low performance level.

She sat up in bed, her eyes opening and focusing directly on the three men before falling to her lap in alarmed concentration.

"Max!" Logan burst out, running to her side along with Alec, who paused to hazard a bewildered glance at Max's monitoring machines before continuing.

"You okay?"

"We have to stop it." Max whispered through a dry, cracked throat as her eyes widened in horror and met Alec's then Logan's, "There's no time."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Life been tearing anybody else a new one recently? Cuz Tyler has been chained to a hot stove for the past couple months** and is NOT feeling the love. At all. So much for volunteer __work. I'm studying professional writing at the moment as **our projects here in Veracruz have stagnated due to personnel changes that have YET TO OCCUR**. Real savvy, innit. Don't get me started. **Plus my power cord gave up the ghost**. Anyhooo...this should be wrapped up in a couple chapter and I shall be out of your hair...for a while :P _

_**(PS: Thanks to the reviewer** who made the suggestion regarding 'than' and 'then'. Guess my GED and give'em hell attitude didn't quite do for me what it did for Dean Winchester :P.)_

_- Tyler_

* * *

"Brother White, with all respect…"

"Respect?" White choked on the word, the vein in his temple throbbing an angry blue out of his forehead as he charged determinedly through the tin corridor, "What _respect_ is there in allowing those _filth_ to fester in their victory?"

The thin, gaunt-faced man in a white lab coat hurried to keep step with the enraged Familiar as they came upon a set of sealed doors which White opened with a stab of his thumb on the panel beside it.

"Allowing them to force-start our plan for world dominance is foolhardy – we haven't completed the final testing…"

"What better way to _test_ it then to unleash it?" White snapped, nodding briefly at the myriad of doctors in white scrubs and hairnets glancing up from their various tubes, syringes and telescopes, "It's had a one hundred percent success rate so far, am I right?" He paused mid-step to grace the man with a hard glare, and his inferior faltered in his dogmatism.

"Well yes, but…"

"Well then get it out there."

"But we still need to adapt it! There are alterations to be made…the transgenics…"

"Just get the humans out of the way for me and watch as the _transgenics_ follow suit." White cocked his head with a heavy narrowing of his eyes, "Is that _respectable_ enough for you, _Brother_?"

* * *

"Max, you need to take it easy…" Logan's cautions fell on deaf ears as Max unwired herself from the various tubes, drips and monitors attached to her and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her face was still as pale as her lips and the circles under her eyes gave good credence to Logan's concern.

But she was determined.

"There's no time to take it easy. If I don't get out there now, every person in Seattle not carrying transgenic antibodies in their blood is gonna die in the next two days." Max stated matter-of-factly, reaching for her clothes which were folded by her bed, only to have Alec's hand slam down on top of hers.

"What are you talking about?" He queried in a low, gravelly tone, eyes narrowed skeptically but not wholly unconvinced.

"The Conclave – they're gonna poison the entire city with that snake virus of theirs, and our blood's the only cure." Max met his eyes tightly, her jaw grit with a grim sort of pain that seemed only to fuel her desperation, "White's made it airborne somehow. They're gonna shoot it out any minute."

"Where? We'll stop him." Alec insisted, and Max's eyes widened.

"We can't stop him, Alec; there's no time…"

"Alright so _what do you wanna do_?" The X5 raised his voice slightly – apparently Max's agitation was catching.

"Blood – we have the antibodies." Max's mind was racing a mile a minute, her eyes rushing to and fro ever so slightly as she stood up from the bed.

"What, like one massive transfusion-fest?" Alec's forehead crinkled incredulously, and behind him Dr Johnston shook his head.

"I don't know what's going on here, but…"

"Then can it!" Alec snapped, and the doctor glared.

"…But there's no way you'd be able to get everybody in Seattle vaccinated against some airborne virus within two days' time!"

"Well thank you, Mr Optimism!" Alec growled in a low, frustrated tone as he rubbed his hand across his jaw and turned away in an effort to muddle through his thoughts.

"I could do an Eyes Only hack." Logan offered, "Get the truth out there and hope I have enough believers or at least scared mothers to show up at the hospitals."

"Even if they come, how exactly are you going to get enough blood to boost their systems?" Johnston demanded, and Max snatched up her clothes.

"Leave that to me."

"This is ridiculous." Alec finally remarked, his senses having returned to full coherence once more as any panic fled from his eyes and replaced itself with calm, "We can immunize as many people as will come but it won't be enough. We need time to convince the public and two days isn't gonna come close to cutting it."

"Just how are we supposed to buy time?" Max demanded, and Alec turned to her matter-of-factly.

"We don't _need_ to buy time. We just need to stop White from shootin' the damn stuff out."

"And how exactly are we gonna do _that_?" Logan pressed with an eyebrow raise.

Max didn't much care for the direction of the conversation as Alec smirked at Logan reassuringly.

"Leave _that_ to _me_."

* * *

He hadn't made it further then the corridor when she caught up to him, her stride labored but determined and her voice boasting a matching temperament.

"Alec, hold up."

Alec turned in surprise to see Max, fully dressed and looking considerably improved despite her still-pallid appearance. Her face was soft and urgent – and very un-Max-like.

"Huh." He prompted casually, a slight and ever-present grin tugging at his lips as he paused in his step and glanced down at the slight wisp of a girl beside him.

"I got a bad feeling about you going after White." Max moved to stand in front of him, her almond eyes locking with Alec's, "I'll do it."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second." Alec crinkled up his eyebrows as his head titled down to maintain eye contact with his fellow X5. He had never really realized how short and waif-like Max actually appeared…

_Must be the 20-foot giant of bravado towering in her shadow…_

"I mean, no disrespect to your newly-acquired _mojo_, but you're not looking too hot…"

"Alec." She actually sounded like she was attempting _patience_.

Well, fuck that. Max might finally be putting out, but Alec was freshly run dry when it came to that particular virtue.

"This isn't a _negotiation_." He snapped, leaning in and over her to fully utilize the several heads of height he had on Max to his advantage, "You're so eager to get yourself killed? Eat a bullet – I'm not lettin' you blame your suicidal tendencies on the greater freaking good anymore!"

"I'm not after _anybody_ getting wasted, White included!" Max insisted in that same calm, persuading tenor, "I just can't shake this feeling that something majorly bad is waiting for whoever goes to take him down."

"Right, so _naturally_," Alec flashed an acid smile her way that didn't even come close to reaching his dark green eyes, "you figure it should be _you_." Her lips parted to protest but he shut her down with a harsh command, "Go back to bed, Max."

He turned to continue purposefully down the hall, but she was in front of him before he'd taken more then a solid step, eyes wide and pleading.

"Look, we know Sandeman juiced me up for a reason. He made me different, Alec, he knew I had to be stronger."

"Yeah? Than what?" He queried flatly.

"Than _you_." Max forced out the last word softly and with sincere apology in her caramel eyes.

Alec flinched back briefly, blinked at her as if in disbelief and mild amusement. Then he quirked an eyebrow and cracked a lopsided (and ice-cold) grin before leaning forward over the small woman.

"Prove it."

With the last sentence, all mirth left his handsome features, overshadowed by the ruthless challenge. 494 had been stirred from dormancy yet again.

Max's lips pressed together in frustration, but before they opened to unleash it, Alec's hand was around her bicep and he was tugging her unceremoniously down the hall, ignoring the stares and muffled whispers of the hospital staff as they traipsed to the staircase.

Logan and Johnston had worked together to pull some major strings within the factions of government sympathetic or at least indifferent to the transgenic nation and had managed to obtain temporary Diplomatic Immunity for Max and Alec for the duration of the former's treatment at Seattle's finest (and most secure) hospital. All the same, Max and Alec still had to watch their backs. Immunity or no, they had been denied any form of transgenic back-up…

Not that they had been given cause to need it up until the decision to poke a dangerous proverbial bear by going fists-up-front against each other.

A decision made entirely by Alec, naturally.

_Stupid men and their stupid egos. _Max grit her teeth as Alec kept up his grip on her arm and led her down several flights of stairs to what she assumed was the parking lot or basement of the hospital.

"Alec, just listen to me. We don't have time for this."

"I'm sure you'll have me flat on my back in plenty o' time to go give White a second helping." Alec sounded plain ornery now, pushing open a side door with Personnel Only signposted on the whitewashed paneling, "In you go."

Max clutched his arm with enough force to crush and twisted him to face her, "Look would you just stop being such a child about this, Alec? People are gonna die here – do you even get that?"

"Oh I get it." He smiled at her mordantly, "I get that you're damn eager to be the first one to go."

"So what, slugging it out is somehow going to make things better? I fail to grasp the logic." Max was beginning to snap now.

"Yeah well how about you grasp this instead?"

Alec had barely gotten out the words before, in a lightening movement almost faster then the eye could follow, he had pulled a syringe from the sleeve of his jacket and swung it towards Max's arm. Of course. There has never been an intention of a fight. He had always been fast – 494, the exemplary soldier, the Alpha gene-bearer.

But Max, for some inexplicable reason, was his equal. Her hand clutched his own and stopped it in its tracks barely a hairsbreadth from her skin. Muscles quivered with the strain of bear-like strengths colliding, and Alec's jaw locked as Max's eyes flared.

"You don't understand what's going on, I get that." She whispered, "But I have to do this. It's what I was made for."

Alec retracted his hand with the necessary force to convey his unbridled disapproval, "Why's it gotta be you?" He muttered between clenched teeth, but his eyes were no longer dark and scorching – instead they were pleading.

Max stammered out a breath before she reached out a hand – slowly, as though waving a flag of truce – and placed her fingertips softly against the X5's stubble-ridden jaw.

Alec swallowed heavily but his eyes remained desperate and even fearful. He closed them and blew out a breath.

"Max, please don't do this."

"I have to." She whispered, and the flickering embers that had been glowing unnervingly inside of her were now ignited – as if a giant heap of logs had been fed it.

"No you don't." Alec repeated in a gravelly murmur, his eyes opening to reveal a fine sheen of glimmer over the brilliant green, "Max, come on, m'_beggin'_ you here."

"I'm sorry." Max forced the words out from a face full of regret, "This is just how it's meant to be – there's no other way around…"

"You're _pregnant_." The words sliced through the air like a knife, "Okay, Max?" Alec gripped her shoulders and gave them a slight shake, "You're pregnant."

Max felt her entire world falling in shambles about her head and she would have taken a step backwards had Alec's hands around her biceps been preventing her from doing so.

"What?"

"The doctor found something. I have no idea _how_, okay, but he found something and you're pregnant and you're gonna have a _baby_." Alec rushed the declaration in a shaky voice, "And you can't just do this, alright? You can't just throw it away…"

"It's impossible." Max breathed, her previous bravado leaving her as Alec's grip involuntarily relaxed and she sank onto the nearby stairwell before looking up at him with wide, desperate eyes, "There's no way. I mean, it has to be a mistake. You're the only…"

"You're damn right it was a mistake." Alec's words and the calm fury behind them hit Max hard enough to bring irrational (at least in her mind) tears to well in her eyelids, "We screwed around and we screwed _up_, but that doesn't mean some innocent kid has to take the consequences of our stupidity!"

Max rose to her feet, angry, incredulous defiance pumping through her veins. She didn't have to take this from him of all people. "Who the hell do you think you are to…"

"Who the hell am I? The _goddamn_ father!" Alec yelled with enough force to cause Max to flinch in shock at the completely uncharacteristic reaction to her demand, "You can say whatever you want about me worrying over _you_, but like it or not, things are _different_ this time, Max – this is _my_ baby too!"

Max was lost for words. She knew her face was a mirror of the overwhelming distress and confusion flooding her senses, and judging by the dark and dangerous scowl Alec was wearing and the ever-so-slight heaving of his tensed shoulders, Max was pretty certain he was feeling similar emotions to her own – although anger was clearly still prevalent.

Max sank back, deflated and defeated, against the cold cement of the wall behind her.

"If there was ever an option to begin with, it's just gone out the window, Alec." She finally offered in a weak and frightened whisper, finally lifting her eyes to meet his own, "Like you said – things are different now."

"What do you mean?" He took a step forward, eyes still hard and unfriendly and matching the calloused walls he wore so well. Max forced herself to keep her gaze steady and her voice benign.

"If the Conclave gets their way in Seattle, the rest of the world can't be that far down on the agenda. And who knows what that's gonna mean for us?" She reached out and, ignoring the layer of frost that had settled on the normally indifferent body shield her fellow X5 was sporting, took his hand in her own, eyes pinned to his, "It's _my_ baby too."

Alec's lips parted at that statement, but Max placed a finger against them with a sorrowful expression.

"This is the way it's gotta be."

"Max, _don't_…"

"I'm sorry." She finally allowed a tear to slip out of her eyes as she released his hand and hurried past him, trying her best to block out the hitch in Alec's breathing that sounded far too worrisome as she did so.

Only one thought pervaded Max's mind as she took the staircase to the parking lot where her Ninja lay in wait (courtesy of Gem who had risen instantly to the occasion when Max had called in a favor over the cell in the ladies' room).

_Why'd I ever let Rait talk me into attending that __stupid__ party?_

_

* * *

_

"Progress?" White snapped as he stalked into the harshly-lit lair where scrub-clad doctors wearing surgical masks and rigid white gloves were busy at work.

"We've managed to stabilize the formula in its gaseous state, but the risk of toxins mutating as a result of the state change is…"

"I didn't _ask_ for a risk assessment." White turned a deadpan glare on the wrinkled doctor who had offered said statement, "I just want to know when it's going to be ready." He emphasized every word with stridence, and the doctor shrank back ever so slightly at the tone.

"Soon. Tomorrow, if you can provide us with immunity from the government." The man handed White a clipboard with a shaky raise of his eyebrows, "This formula is very volatile. My team and I would prefer to avoid becoming scapegoats should things go awry. You understand, of course."

"Of course." White resisted the urge to sneer contemptuously at what he deemed the cowardly undercurrent of the man's proposal as he accepted the clipboard, scrawled his signature and nodded, "Just get it done. Call me when we're ready to launch."

The doctor nodded politely as White whirled on his heels and exited the sliding doors. He didn't witness the disgusted manner in which White tore the immunity appeal from its lodging in the clipboard and crumpled it in his fist, dropping it into the nearest waste bin as he stalked determinedly down the hallway of the mucky underground facility.

The moment White had rounded a corner and was out of sight, a black-clad, graceful form dropped silently from the roof, chestnut hair flopping down her back. Max glanced quickly from side to side to ensure her privacy before reaching into the garbage bin and seizing the document in her gloved hands. She raised an eyebrow at the form before stashing it away under the folds of her catsuit. It was ample enough evidence to put White and co. away from life should she ever get the chance.

Max headed towards the lab with caution, eyes ever wary of potential danger lurking on all sides, but the facility seemed, for the most part, to only maintain strong security at the entrance points. Max had already taken out the guards posted at the hatch to which the strange, paranormal urge inside of her had led. It had seemed for all intents and purposes to be nothing but a crumbling bomb shelter shrouded in vines in the corner of a local park. The three Familiars had been no match for Max's newfound strength and speed.

Ducking into a storage room with a metallic, glass-paneled door, Max shut it behind her and glanced around at the rows of cold steel shelving before selecting a set of white scrubs, surgical mask and gloves. She paused at the pile of hairnets and sighed.

"The things I do for my country."

* * *

An orderly nodded briefly at the young woman with soft brown eyes as she carried an array of clinical hodgepodge through the hissing glass doors and into the lab. Max did her best to nod back and remain focused at the same time. She had once told Logan that she could parallel-process and multi-task like there was no tomorrow. Max wished that were the case at present, but whatever force had overtaken her body had left her powerlessly compelled by one single frame of consciousness.

Destroy the virus.

She took a silent head count. Four men, two women. A relatively small team considering the monumental task they had been assigned. Max guessed there had been more of them at one point or another – if the neatly scrubbed and faded bloodstains on the corner of the floor were anything to go by. Working with White had always been its own occupational hazard.

Everywhere Max looked, she saw nothing but endless rows of tubes and wires, bottles and canisters, syringes and containers. Each doctor seemed intent on their work as though their life depended on it. Max was pretty damn sure it did. Not that she cared – but these Familiars seemed different to her. They seemed frightened. Almost reluctant as well.

Max stood in confusion for a brief moment, attempting to conclude exactly where the focus of her attack ought to be directed, when she felt the room quiet noticeably. The soft whispers fluttered into her ears once again – the walls seemed to shift and move, sliding backwards and out of focus as Max's vision captured a single, non-threatening silver cylinder that sat nonchalantly in the corner of a lab desk.

No labels. No yellow warnings plastered to its sides. But Max knew – she just somehow knew – that this was the one.

Her heart pounded in her chest as her surroundings returned to normal, and Max's mind raced as she set down the items in her hands and began to inch slowly towards the cylinder. What the hell was she supposed to do with it? It was cumbersome and looked as though it weighed at least fifteen to twenty kilos. While carrying it would pose as no challenge to Max, removing it undetected from the facility would be more difficult. It was hardly user-friendly in that regard. And even if she did manage to get it out into open ground, how was she mean to destroy it? Drop it into a sink hole somewhere? Into a lake? The ocean, maybe? The risk of it being either found or damaged or both was not one Max was sure she was willing to take.

_One step at a time_. Max informed herself.


	15. Chapter 15

_**I refuse to bore you all with monologing** about how difficult or character-building or fulfilling it has been for me to write this fic (blah blah blah, like to thank my reviewers, readers, lawyer, pet armadillo etc etc).** Here before you is the final chapter of CheckMate**. Not really sure if this story came out as I had originally planned, but then again, what the hell does? ;) **Thanks for reviewing!**_

_**(PS: Out of respect for the long-term wishes of a pal **on this site ***cough IceBox cough***,** I will be commencing work on a Supernatural season 6 **- either one long fic or a short series. It's already in the pipeline, **so for those who are interested..stay tuned** :D). _

**_- Tyler_**

* * *

"You! Intern girl!"

Max's attention was drawn to the aging doctor in charge as he signaled for her to approach him. She swallowed and quickly complied.

"I'm assuming you must be an intern because if you _weren't_," his voice rose an octave higher and took on an angry bent, "you wouldn't have brought unsterilized equipment from the storage room into a biohazard area!"

Max was already looking over his shoulder at the conspicuous-looking panel in the corner of the wall labeled 'Disposal Chute'. She wondered absently what sort of disposal a biohazard area would be spewing out – and what it would mean for her should she decide that a nosedive with an armful of snake virus down that chute was her exit plan.

"Hello?"

"Huh?" Max turned wide, brown eyes full of innocent surprise on the glaring man before her. He raised his eyebrows dryly, and she adopted a dewey-eyed expression of contrition.

"I'm sorry, I…you're right. I'm new."

"First day on the job?" The man seemed to be pitching false sympathy, and Max braced herself for an outburst – which, sure enough, came shortly after her minute nod.

"Well, let's get one thing straight. My team is a combination of some of the most brilliant bio-agent experts in the world. Their lives depend on everything progressing like clockwork. Now do you _really_ think that _you_, with your bumbling newbie graces and Faline routine, are going to in any way alleviate their situation?" He leant in to loom over Max with angry eyes that were bloodshot from weeks of sleep deprivation, "Well, do you?"

Understanding enveloped Max like a sopping wet blanket. These doctors weren't Familiars. They were Ordinaries. Ordinaries White had duped into believing they were doing their country some sort of sick, undercover service. Duped and _threatened_, by the sound of it.

"Are you listening to me?"

The bolts had clicked into place in Max's mind. She had one shot. And yes, it was likely suicidal – but she had to take it. There was no other option.

"Hey!" The doctor was clearly angered by now as he snapped his fingers in front of Max's face in an effort to capture her attention. She reacted instantly, grabbing the man's wrist and giving it a toss that sent him flying a good few meters. His fall was broken by three of other doctors, and apparently Max had hit him hard enough to knock the others on their rears as well.

She didn't waste time pondering her newfound strength (or lack of control – she wasn't sure which it was). Instead Max blurred to the side of the weighty, deadly canister and snatched it up in her gloved hands. Biohazards weren't her area of expertise (although she had been schooled in the basics during her Manticore years), but Max wasn't going to let the minor details mar her recently-formed escape plan.

She couldn't.

Max kicked in the vent and was about to dive headlong on what she was almost certain was a suicide run, when she was abruptly intercepted…

And thrown across the room. The canister flew from her hands and clattered noisily onto the metallic flooring. Max collided with the wall opposite her and ricocheted, bouncing off it as though she were a rubber ball and landing on her feet – to the amazement of both her and the enraged Familiar who had barreled into her with the full brunt of his strength.

"Don't you scumbags ever quit?" White demanded coldly.

"Right back at'cha." Max's eyes flickered, at the speed of light, to the canister rolling quietly to a stop against the inconspicuous leg of a stretcher table. She was fairly certain that the terrified doctors still conscious and fleeing the room would sound an alarm sooner rather than later. Which meant time was of the essence.

What the hell was new?

White's eyes had followed hers to the canister, and a wry smirk tugged at one of the corners of his mouth, "You're not going to do anything rash, are you, 452? Not when you've got a little trannie bun in the oven."

Max did her best to stave off complete shock underneath a mask of stony indifference, "What the hell are you smoking?"

"You can hide behind that indifferent little _veneer_ you love so much," White took several steps forward, a smile of triumph Max had never fully witnessed burning hot across his face, "but we both know the truth is that you're carrying another transgenic piece of shit inside the body that I'm about to riddle full of bullets." A gun had suddenly been drawn. White's finger eased the safety off and his hands cupped the muzzle as it aimed directly at Max.

"Too bad." She shrugged, "Seems your _father_ had _other_ plans for how this should all go down."

"My _father_," White snarled, "was a madman, an altruistic looney with a dream that was never meant to be. You really think some beefed up blood cells are gonna score you any points? Well think again." With those final words Ames fired his gun. Max had moved in a blur of movement and disappeared into the labrynth of trolleys, desks and boxes that made up the makeshift underground lab.

White rolled his eyes and cocked his head around, gun still at the ready as he began to cautiously make his way through the room, moving slowly and listening for the whisper of breath he would need to let loose a fatal blow.

"Really?" He called out, a smirk dancing in his eyes as he leapt around one of the tables and came up empty, "Not _this_ again, 452 – I mean, hide and seek?" White glanced up quickly as he heard the faint hiss of sliding doors and watched them touch panels softly as their exit closed.

He squared his shoulders and yelled after Max's evident departure, "AREN'T WE JUST A LITTLE _OLD_?"

Max heard the call echo down the corridor as she flipped up and grabbed hold of the piping lining the roof. She caught sight of particularly important set of wires and proceeded to yank them from their sockets. A shower of sparks descended and the harsh neon lighting flooding the building flickered and then dissipated into blackness.

As far as Max knew, Familiars were still on par with Ordinaries when it came to lack of night vision. At least, that was what she was counting on. White always seemed to tot the advantage in their little conflicts with a shiny firearm, which put Max in the position of relying solely on her cocktail of animal DNA and accompanying instinct to come out on top.

"Lights out, 452?" Ames' voice drifted closer to her as Max inched along the piping, hoping to double back on her sudden break for escape and nab the canister.

"You really think a little darkness is going to hide you? Not with that stench your kind carry around." White was close – almost underneath her directly. Max tossed between jumping him or waiting it out. She wasn't certain either option would profit her. He seemed to have come to a halt all of a sudden, and through the green fuzz of her night vision, Max saw White reached into his jacket with his free hand.

"I know why you're here. But you're not going anywhere – in fact, you're never gonna see daylight again, because I'm going to kill you, right here and now."

Max rolled her eyes. _Goddamn Monologue. _

"See, Sandeman predicted things, but he wasn't a prophet." White had pulled something sharp and malicious-looking from his coat, "He knew some things, a few things. But the truth is that his visions were based on a future he was only _hoping_ for, not a future he believed in."

Max recognized the knife as being the Conclave's instrument of ailment, the tip being soaked in a dark liquid substance she was pretty certain was meant for her. Some losers were just really, really sore.

"We're making our _own_ future, 452." White moved on, gun and knife at the ready, and Max wasted no time in inching back up the hallway, legs and hands working up the piping with silence.

"A future without unclean meat." White's diatribe was getting fainter, "That means you, by the way. Transgenics and humans alike. Hitler foresaw an Arian race, pure in blood, that would have put Earth on the universe's map for eternity. But then the weak somehow triumphed."

Max was almost there. She could see the sliding glass doors and realized that once she reached them, it would be a mad dash against time to grab the canister and get the hell out of White's range before he shot her in the back.

"Look what they've done with the world, 452." White seemed to have turned back and was heading towards her again, gun drawn and eyes scanning every shadow and doorway as he did so, "They've turned it into a pathetic excuse for a planet. Disease, poverty, war, UN goddamn _peacekeeping_. It's a load of horse-crap, 452 – and you and your kind are out with the old."

Max dropped, landing silently and taking a deep breath before she broke into a run. The doors whispered noisily as they opened, and Max didn't have to turn around to know that White was directly on her heels.

She skidded to a halt and snatched up the canister, pivoted on her heel and launched a graceful spinning leap into the disposal chute – all in a blur of movement. Max felt a bullet burn through her thigh as she flew down the metal tube, hands cradling the canister protectively. The weight of a second body hitting the chute made it shudder, and Max heard the thunder of a handgun spitting only milliseconds before her shoulder blade and then her spine were riddled with bullets.

She hit the pile of rubble at the end of the chute hard, landing on a heap of disposable syringes and empty metal cylinders with a painful crunch of bone.

White sprung neatly from the chute, landing on his feet and crushing a glass mixing tube to pieces with the toe of his dress shoe. He reached for the wall and flicked on two neon lights which hugged the grimy walls of the disposal container.

Max knew she was bleeding out, but her broken spine prevented her from feeling the warm flow of blood seeping through her cat-suit. She tried to moved but couldn't. The canister slipped from her fingers and bounced into a roll that was stopped by a gentle stomp of White's foot. He bent down and picked up the treasured object, turning to his bleeding, broken opponent with a victorious air.

"This is the future, 452." He waved the canister, and Max could only watch through eyes being stung with blood from her forehead as White leveled his gun and pointed it directly at her skull, "Thanks for breaking its fall."

He shot her in the head, point blank. Max jolted with the force of the bullet and then lay still once more, her eyes quiet with death and her temple leaking a thin stream of blood from the still smoking hole.

White knelt down, felt Max's absent pulse, then smiled at the notion that he couldn't actually believe X5-452 was dead. He straightened and then nudged her body with his foot, turning her from her side onto her back. Max's head flopped lifelessly, and White resisted the urge to reach down and close the dead girl's eyes.

"You were a worthless piece of shit," White muttered at the body sprawled unnaturally over a pile of rubble, "but you gave me a run for my money, I'll hand you that. So long, 452."

White sniffed and dusted a speck of filth off his suit sleeve, turning to a panel on the wall and punching in a code. A hairline doorframe clicked out of place, and he twisted the handle, pocketing his gun and turning to leave.

A hand grabbed his ankle. The grip was intensely strong, and as it twisted, White's body spun around, landing him on his back in an instant.

His eyes narrowed incredulously at the petite girl standing over him. The bullethole in Max's head was already scabbing over, and she looked more alive than before her death.

If that made any sense. Not that _anything_ about the situation made sense.

"Impossible." He breathed, and Max reached down, gripping his throat in her slender, delicate hand and smashing the man against the door with enough force to crack his back in one go.

White's face was a picture of rage, but the ability to move had been taken from him. Max's hand tightened around his trachea, her eyes cold and unreadable as she pushed harder, depriving him of oxygen.

"We make our _own_ future." She spoke between grit teeth, and just as White's eyes were rolling into his head from the pressure on his throat, Max released him. He slumped into the rubble, unconscious.

She reached down and took the canister from his motionless hands, stepped over his body and twisted the door handle. Max slipped through the doorway like a phantom in the dark, pulling it closed behind and frying the outside panel with a smash of her fist.

They would find him eventually.

* * *

The pier was abysmally cold and gloomy. Snow poured down in bucketfuls, soaking their jackets and hair. Their breath wisped out in puffs of smoke and clouded their vision. The icy December chill bit feverishly at their jean-clad legs and their leather-clad fingertips.

The water was the worst. She could feel its salty sting against her face as it whipped angrily at the docking and broke its waves against the rocks. Dead fish and rotting seaweed pooled around the ankles of the garbage piled along the shore.

Somehow, she knew she would rather be here, with him – with _them_ – than anywhere else in the world.

Max hefted one end of the chest, padlocked and wrapped in chains, while Alec lifted the other. He'd wanted to do it alone – something about her needing to conserve her energy. Men.

They tossed it unceremoniously over the side of the dock, and it landed with a noisy belly-flop, sending more water splashing in their faces. Max didn't care. She watched it sink for as long as the milky, murky ocean would allow her and then smiled despite herself.

They'd done it.

"There she goes." Alec commented quietly, and Logan flashed him a curious look.

"What makes it a 'she'?"

"What, are you kidding me?" The X5 tucked his hands into the pocket of his heavy jacket, "Biohazardous agent bent on poisoning mankind? It's _totally_ a 'she'."

"I can't believe it's really over." Max was pensive, and she wished she wasn't. Something about dying and not being afforded the luxury of staying dead just sort of did that to a girl, she guessed. If there was a scientific explanation for the way her brain had somehow pulled a Wolverine on her, spewed out the bullet and put the squishy gray thing between her ears back together…Max was damned if she knew how it worked.

Fortunately for her, the buzz was wearing off. Whatever Sandeman had spliced her genes with seemed to be sinking into dormancy – or extinction, if Max was lucky. She was just glad to be off the permanent caffeine drive.

"I don't know about over." Logan rubbed his gloved hands together before waving one at the small bulldozer that backed up down the pier with a load full of dirt, "But since White's secret facility got stormed half an hour after you made its location, I'd say its gonna take the Conclave a good few years before they resurface."

"Too bad White got away, though." Here Alec cast Max a pointed look, "I'd like to see their little Empire get anywhere without Darth Vader breathing down their necks."

"Yeah." Max was still staring absently at the bubbling water, watching as mountains of dirt was poured into the spot where they'd made the drop, "Too bad."

Too bad she'd let him go? Maybe. But Max wasn't a murderer. A freak of nature, maybe, but a cold-blooded killer? That just wasn't her style.

Logan glanced sidelong at her, "How you feeling? Johnston said you were pretty banged up."

_I was __dead__. _Max fought off the urge to inform him. That was a secret she figured she'd carry to the grave – or for eternity, if the grave never came around. Some of Sandeman's private journal had surfaced during the raid on the Conclave and Max had yet to take a peek. But the answers were there, she hoped.

"Just a few bullet holes that've already healed." Max turned to smile at him, and he reached out tentatively before he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good." Logan smiled quietly.

The miracle of the virus' sudden absence in Max's system could only have been chalked down to the cleansing burn her body had undergone during her transformation. Max had been checked and re-checked by Johnston and several biohazard experts. Her blood-work had come back squeaky clean every single round.

Max supposed she should be grateful. Whatever Sandeman had planted inside her genes had come with a lot of birthing pains (Max was also grateful her tryptophan levels had evened out and that the seizures and headaches had stopped the moment she awoke on that hospital bed). But it had done her the sweetest favor she ever could have asked for, and Max was inclined, despite her hostile nature, to accept the virus' elimination as a sort of belated apology gift from Sandeman.

Alec cleared his throat with a soft cough, "I'm gonna go check the coast's still clear." He was gone before Logan or Max could breathe a word in protest. Max smirked despite herself.

"Subtlety isn't really his thing after all." Logan quipped, and she shrugged, remaining silent.

The two didn't speak for what seemed like an eternity, both fighting for words and explanations and even understanding as they stood in the falling snow and listened to the faint foghorns of the ships out to port.

It was Logan who, with a deep breath, took the plunge.

"Asha's pregnant."

"So am I." Max responded softly, and Logan nodded.

"I know."

Max felt bittersweet tears well up in her eyes, and for once she didn't attempt to fend them off as she watched the waves roll in, "So I guess this is it, huh."

"I guess so." Logan agreed, and the emotion in his voice was stronger than Max ever remembered it.

"We finally get rid of the only thing preventing us from being together and then…" Max stopped, too upset to continue her sentence. Logan, ever the gentleman, finished it for her.

"And then we realize," He laid a hand on her shoulder and Max glanced up at him through angry tears, "it _wasn't_ the only thing preventing us from being together."

Max shook her head, "I hate this."

"Me too." Logan reminded her with a gentle squeeze, "But it doesn't mean we can't be happy. I want you to be happy with him, Max. You love him."

"I love _you_ too." She insisted in a sorrowful whisper, and as Logan nodded, Max watched his eyes moisten and his jaw lock.

"Same here. But clearly things are different now. We have to go on with our lives."

"Promise me something." Max grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly, looking anxiously into his face.

"Anything."

"We'll never stop caring?"

"Never."

Max let tears slip then, though she brushed them away just as quickly as they had come with the back of her glove. But she smiled, despite herself, and Logan returned the gesture.

"Well that settles it then." He held out his hand, "Christmas Dinner at my place, just the four of us."

Max had to laugh then, "And Joshua?"

"And Original Cindy." Logan agreed, "But they're the only exceptions."

"Wouldn't want a dysfunctional crowd of misfits spoiling the big day."

"Right."

They shook on it, and Logan pulled her into a warm embrace that the two of them relished for as long as they possibly could.

Max felt his lips brush her ear, "Take care of yourself, Max."

"Yeah." She whispered, "You too."

He pulled away, and she let him go, tucking her hands into her pockets and smiling at the wave he sent her way before heading out of sight.

Max glanced around for Alec and found him by her side all of a sudden. She wasn't surprised at how right it felt to have him there. He'd been there for a while now.

"Logan okay?" Alec queried, and Max smiled.

"Yeah. He's fine."

There was a pause for a moment before Alec spoke again, "Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah." Max took his hand in her own and directed her smile at his face this time, and Alec took the invitation without a question, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and drawing her into his side.

"I'm good." Max meant it. She hadn't felt a sense of peace and purpose this ambient and strong for as long as she could remember.

They stood there on the dock for another full hour, watching the dirt pile into the water and bury the greatest threat the world had faced in years with a quiet sense of duty. They watched the Christmas lights glittering on the boats as they passed, transforming drab, ugly ships into wonderlands of yuletide hope and dancing off the reflective surface of the otherwise filthy and repulsive ocean.

Max leaned closer into Alec's warmth and felt a surge of it hit her insides as he kissed the top of her head gently.

Somehow, this was the most beautiful place on earth.

_- FIN -_


End file.
